'/I 


THEODORE  ROOSEVELT 


THE  ATTEMPTED 

ASSASSINATION 

of 
EX-PRESIDENT 

Theodore  Roosevelt 


Written,  Compiled,  and  Edited  by 

OLIVER  E.  REMEY 
HENRY  F. 'COCHEMS 
WHEELER  P.  BLOODGOOD 


Published  by* 

THE  PROGRESSIVE  PUBLISHING  COMPANY 
of  Milwaukee,  Wisconsin 


.,  r.ijht,  19U,  by  O.  E.  Remey,  Milwaukee 


'EDITION. 

A  Li&rajy  J&Ulfjon'of  this  book  is  in  the  hands  of  the  printers 
and  wi-fl"  b»  ifesitecE:'  ffractly;  :  . .  •  - 

This  edition  will  be  bound  in  Kard  cover.  The  volume 
will  be  neatly  bound  and  suitable  for  public  and  private 
libraries. 

The  Library  Edition  will  be  limited  in  number. 

Those  who  desire  a  copy  will  be  mailed  a  copy  as  soon  as 
the  edition  is  off  the  press,  if  they  will  send  one  dollar  to  the 
Progressive  Publishing  Company  of  Milwaukee,  VVis.,  Room 
600  Caswell  Block,  Milwaukee. 

The  demand  for  this  edition  is  rapidly  exhausting  it. 


THIS   HISTORICAL  NARRATIVE 

IS  DEDICATED  TO 

EX-PRESIDENT    THEODORE  ROOSEVELT 

THE  GREATEST  AMERICAN 

OF  HIS  TIME. 


261203 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS. 

PAGE. 

Theodore  Roosevelt Frontispiece 

Shirts  Worn  by  the  Ex-President 18 

Page  of  Ex-President's  Manuscript 24 

X-Ray  Photograph  Showing  Bullet 32 

John  Flammang  Schrank 40 

Page  One  of  Schrank's  Letter 50 

Page  Two  of  Schrank's  Letter 60 

Capt.  A.  O.  Girard 70 

Elbert  E.  Martin 80 

Automobile  in  Which  Ex-President  Roosevelt  Was  Shot .  .  90 

Johnston  Emergency  Hospital 100 

Judge  August  C.  Backus 110 

District  Attorney  Winifred  C.  Zabel 120 

Dr.  Joseph  Colt  Bloodgood 130 

Dr.  R.  G.  Sayle 140 

John  T.  Janssen,  Chief  of  Police 150 

Mrs.  Theodore  Roosevelt 160 

Members  of  Sanity  Commission 170 

Hotel  Gilpatrick 180 

Schrank  in  County  Jail 190 

Henry  F.  Cochems 199 

James  G.  Flanders,  Schrank's  Attorney 236 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS. 

PAGE. 

Preface 9 

Chronology 11 


CHAPTER  I. 
CHAPTER  II. 
CHAPTER  III. 
CHAPTER  IV. 
CHAPTER  V. 
CHAPTER  VI. 
CHAPTER  VII. 
CHAPTER  VIII. 
CHAPTER  IX. 
CHAPTER  X. 
CHAPTER  XI. 
CHAPTER  XII. 
CHAPTER  XIII. 
CHAPTER  XIV. 
CHAPTER  XV. 
CHAPTER  XVI. 
CHAPTER  XVII. 


The  Shot  is  Fired 15 

Speaks  to  Great  Audience 25 

Roosevelt  in  the  Emergency 51 

Careful  of  Collar  Buttons 57 

Arrival  at  Mercy  Hospital 64 

Gets  Back  into  Campaign 74 

Back  at  Sagamore  Hill 82 

Arrest,  Appears  in  Court 91 

Appears  in  Municipal  Court 99 

Schrank  Declared  Insane 105 

Shows  Repentance  But  Once 112 

Schrank  Before  Chief 117 

Witnesses  of  the  Shooting 132 

A  Second  Examination 153 

Report  of  the  Alienists 192 

Finding  of  the  Alienists 195 

Schrank  Describes  Shooting 202 

CHAPTER  XVIII.     Conclusion  of  Commission 208 

CHAPTER  XIX.        Schrank  Discusses  Visions 210 

CHAPTER  XX.          Schrank's  Defense 213 

CHAPTER  XXI.        Schrank's  Unwritten  Laws 224 

CHAPTER  XXII.      Unusual  Court  Precedent.  .  235 


PREFACE. 

At  8:10  o'clock  on  the  night  of  Oct.  14,  1912, 
a  shot  was  fired  the  echo  of  which  swept  around 
the  entire  world  in  thirty  minutes. 

An  insane  man  attempted  to  end  the  life  of  the 
only  living  ex-president  of  the  United  States  and 
the  best  known  American. 

The  bullet  failed  of  its  mission. 

Col.  Theodore  Roosevelt,  carrying  the  leaden 
missile  intended  as  a  pellet  of  death  in  his  right 
side,  has  recovered.  He  is  spared  for  many  more 
years  of  active  service  for  his  country. 

John  Flammang  Schrank,  the  mad  man  who 
fired  the  shot,  is  in  the  Northern  Hospital  for  the 
Insane  at  Oshkosh,  Wis.,  pronounced  by  a  commis 
sion  of  five  alienists  a  paranoiac.  If  he  recovers  he 
will  face  trial  for  assault  with  intent  to  kill. 

This  little  book  presents  an  accurate  story  of  the 
attempt  upon  the  life  of  the  ex-president.  The  aim 
of  those  who  present  it  is  that,  being  an  accurate 
narrative,  it  shall  be  a  contribution  to  the  history  of 
the  United  States. 

This  book  is  written,  compiled  and  edited  by 
Henry  F.  Cochems,  Chairman  of  the  national 
speakers'  bureau  of  the  Progressive  party  during 
the  1912  campaign,  and  who  was  with  Col.  Roose- 


10  Preface. 

velt  in  the  automobile  when  the  ex-president  was 
shot,  Wheeler  P.  Bloodgood,  Wisconsin  repre 
sentative  of  the  National  Progressive  committee, 
and  Oliver  E.  Remey,  city  editor  of  the  Milwau 
kee  Free  Press,  who  necessarily  followed  all  inci 
dents  of  the  shooting  closely. 

The  story  told  is  an  historical  narrative  in  the 
preparation  of  which  accuracy  never  has  been  lost 
sight  of. 


CHRONOLOGY. 

October  14,  1912— At  8:10  o'clock  P.  M.,  John 
Flammang  Schrank,  of  New  York,  a  paranoiac, 
shoots  ex-President  Theodore  Roosevelt  in  the 
right  side  with  a  38-caliber  bullet  as  the  ex-Presi 
dent  is  standing  in  an  automobile  in  front  of  Hotel 
Gilpatrick,  Milwaukee.  Schrank  is  immediately 
arrested,  after  a  struggle  to  recover  the  revolver 
and  protect  him  from  violence.  Col.  Roosevelt, 
bleeding  from  his  wound,  is  driven  to  the  Audi 
torium,  Milwaukee,  and  speaks  to  an  audience  of 
9,000  for  eighty  minutes.  Immediately  after  his 
speech  he  is  taken  to  the  Johnston  Emergency 
hospital,  Milwaukee,  where  his  wound  is  dressed. 
At  12:30  o'clock  he  is  taken  on  a  special  train  to 
Chicago,  then  to  Mercy  hospital. 

October  IS,  1912 — Schrank  is  arraigned  in  Dis 
trict  court,  Milwaukee,  and  admits  having  fired  the 
shot.  He  is  bound  over  to  Municipal  court  for  pre 
liminary  hearing. 

October  18,  1912— Ex-President  Roosevelt 
passes  crisis  in  Mercy  hospital,  Chicago. 

October  21,  1912— Ex-President  Roosevelt 
leaves  Chicago  for  his  home  at  Oyster  Bay,  R.  I. 

October  22,  1912— Ex-President  Roosevelt 
reaches  home  after  a  trip  not  seriously  impairing 
his  condition. 


12  Chronology. 

October  26,  1912— Ex-President  Roosevelt 
takes  first  walk  out  of  doors. 

October  27,  1912— Ex-President  Roosevelt  cele 
brates  his  fifty-fourth  birthday. 

October  30,  1912 — Ex-President  Roosevelt 
speaks  to  an  audience  of  16,000  in  Madison  Square 
garden,  New  York,  over  30,000  having  been  turned 
away.  He  is  given  an  ovation  lasting  forty-five 
minutes. 

November  1,  1912 — Ex-President  Roosevelt 
again  speaks  to  an  audience  filling  Madison  Square 
garden.  But  for  his  request  that  it  cease  so  that 
he  could  speak,  the  ovation  would  have  exceeded 
that  of  October  30. 

November  3,  1912 — Ex-President  Roosevelt 
makes  his  last  campaign  speech  at  Oyster  Bay, 
R.I. 

November  5,  1912 — Ex-President  Roosevelt 
votes  at  Oyster  Bay,  R.  I. 

November  12,  1912 — John  Flammang  Schrank 
pleads  guilty  to  assault  with  intent  to  murder  be 
fore  Judge  August  C.  Backus  in  Municipal  court, 
Milwaukee.  Judge  Backus  appoints  a  commission 
of  five  Milwaukee  alienists  to  determine,  as  officers 
of  the  court,  Schrank's  sanity. 

November  14,  1912 — The  sanity  commission 
begins  examinations  of  Schrank. 


Chronology.  13 

November  22,  1912 — The  sanity  commission  re 
ports  to  Judge  A.  C.  Backus  in  Municipal  court, 
Milwaukee,  that  Schrank  is  insane  and  was  insane 
at  the  time  he  shot  ex-President  Roosevelt.  Schrank 
is  committed  to  the  Northern  Hospital  for  the  In 
sane  at  Oshkosh,  Wis.  Judge  Backus  in  making 
the  commitment  orders  that  in  the  event  of  recov 
ery  Schrank  shall  face  trial  on  the  charge  of  as 
sault  with  intent  to  kill. 

November  25,  1912 — Schrank  is  taken  to  the 
Northern  Hospital  for  the  Insane,  Oshkosh,  Wis., 
by  deputies  from  the  office  of  the  sheriff  of  Mil 
waukee  county. 


CHAPTER  I. 
THE  SHOT  IS  FIRED. 

RELATED  BY  HENRY  F.  COCHEMS  AFTER  THE  SHOOTING. 

At  8:10  o'clock  on  the  night  of  Oct.  14,  1912, 
an  attempt  was  made  to  assassinate  Ex-President 
Theodore  Roosevelt  in  the  city  of  Milwaukee. 
Col.  Roosevelt  had  dined  at  the  Hotel  Gilpatrick 
with  the  immediate  members  of  his  traveling 
party.  The  time  having  arrived  to  leave  for  the 
Auditorium,  where  he  was  due  to  speak,  he  left 
his  quarters,  and,  emerging  from  the  front  of  the 
hotel,  crossing  the  walk,  stepped  into  a  waiting 
automobile. 

Instantly  that  he  appeared  a  wild  acclaim  of 
applause  and  welcome  greeted  him.  He  settled  in 
his  seat,  but,  responsive  to  the  persistent  roar  of 
the  crowd,  which  extended  in  dense  masses  for 
over  a*  block  in  every  direction,  he  rose  in  acknowl 
edgement,  raising  his  hat  in  salute. 

At  this  instant  there  cracked  out  the  vicious 
report  of  a  pistol  shot,  the  flash  of  the  gun  show 
ing  that  the  would-be  assassin  had  fired  from  a 
distance  of  only  four  or  five  feet. 

Instantly  there  was  a  wild  panic  and  confusion. 
Elbert  E.  Martin,  one  of  Col.  Roosevelt's  stenog 
raphers,  a  powerful  athlete  and  ex-football  player, 


16  The  Attempted  Assassination  of 

leaped  across  the  machine  and  bore  the  would-be 
assassin  to  the  ground.  At  the  same  moment  Capt. 
A.  O.  Girard,  a  former  Rough  Rider  and  body 
guard  of  the  ex-President,  and  several  policemen 
were  upon  him.  Col.  Roosevelt's  knees  bent  just 
a  trifle,  and  his  right  hand  reached  forward  on 
the  door  of  the  car  tonneau.  Then  he  straightened 
himself  and  reached  back  against  the  upholstered 
seat,  but  in  the  same  instant  he  straightened  him 
self,  he  again  raised  his  hat,  a  reassuring  smile 
upon  his  face,  apparently  the  coolest  and  least 
excited  of  any  one  in  the  frenzied  mob,  who  crowd 
ing  in  upon  the  man  who  fired  the  shot,  continued 
to  call  out: 

"Kill  him,  kill  him." 

I  had  stepped  into  the  car  beside  Col.  Roose 
velt,  about  to  take  my  seat  when  the  shot  was  fired. 
Throwing  my  arm  about  the  Colonel's  waist,  I 
asked  him  if  he  had  been  hit,  and  after  Col.  Roose 
velt  saying  in  an  aside,  "He  pinked  me,  Harry," 
called  out  to  those  who  were  wildly  tearing  at  the 
would-be  assassin : 

"Don't  hurt  him;  bring  him  to  me  here!" 

The  sharp  military  tone  of  command  was  heard 
in  the  midst  of  the  general  uproar,  and  Martin, 
Girard  and  the  policemen  dragged  Schrank  to 
ward  where  Mr.  Roosevelt  stood.  Arriving  at 
the  side  of  the  car,  the  revolver,  grasped  by  three 


Ex-President  Theodore  Roosevelt  17 

or  four  hands  of  men  struggling  for  possession, 
was  plainly  visible,  and  I  succeeded  in  grasping 
the  barrel  of  the  revolver,  and  finally  in  getting  it 
from  the  possession  of  a  detective.  Mr.  Martin 
says  that  Schrank  still  had  his  hands  on  the  re 
volver  at  that  time.  The  Colonel  then  said: 

"Officers,  take  charge  of  him,  and  see  that  there 
is  no  violence  done  to  him." 

The  crowd  had  quickly  cleared  from  in  front 
of  the  automobile,  and  we  drove  through,  Col. 
Roosevelt  waving  a  hand,  the  crowd  now  half- 
hysterical  with  frenzied  excitement. 

After  rounding  the  corner  I  drew  the  revolver 
from  my  overcoat  pocket  and  saw  that  it  was  a 
38-caliber  long  which  had  been  fired.  As  the 
Colonel  looked  at  the  revolver  he  said: 

"A  38-Colt  has  an  ugly  drive." 

Mr.  McGrath,  one  of  the  Colonel's  secretaries 
riding  at  his  right  side,  said: 

"Why,  Colonel,  you  have  a  hole  in  your  over 
coat.  He  has  shot  you." 

The  Colonel  said: 

"I  know  it,"  and  opened  his  overcoat,  which 
disclosed  his  white  linen,  shirt,  coat  and  vest  satu 
rated  with  blood.  We  all  instantly  implored  and 
pleaded  with  the  Colonel  to  drive  with  the  auto 
mobile  to  a  hospital,  but  he  turned  to  me  with  a 
characteristic  smile  and  said: 


Shirts  Worn  by  Ex-President  Roosevelt  Showing  Extent  of 

Bleeding  from  Wound  While  He  Spoke 

to  9,000  People. 


Ex-President  Theodore  Roosevelt  19 

"I  know  I  am  good  now;  I  don't  know  how 
long  I  may  be.  This  may  be  my  last  talk  in  this 
cause  to  our  people,  and  while  I  am  good  I  am 
going  to  drive  to  the  hall  and  deliver  my  speech." 

By  the  time  we  had  arrived  at  the  hall  the 
shock  had  brought  a  pallor  to  his  face.  On  alight 
ing  he  walked  firmly  to  the  large  waiting  room  in 
the  back  of  the  Auditorium  stage,  and  there  Doc 
tors  Sayle,  Terrell  and  Stratton  opened  his  shirt, 
exposing  his  right  breast. 

Just  below  the  nipple  of  his  right  breast  ap 
peared  a  gaping  hole.  They  insisted  that  under  no 
consideration  should  he  speak,  but  the  Colonel 
asked: 

"Has  any  one  a  clean  handkerchief?" 

Some  one  extending  one,  he  placed  it  over  the 
wound,  buttoned  up  his  clothes  and  said : 

"Now,  gentlemen,  let's  go  in,"  and  advanced 
to  the  front  of  the  platform. 

I,  having  been  asked  to  present  him  to  the 
audience,  after  admonishing  the  crowd  that  there 
was  no  occasion  for  undue  excitement,  said  that  an 
attempt  to  assassinate  Col.  Roosevelt  had  taken 
place;  that  the  bullet  was  still  in  his  body,  and  that 
he  would  attempt  to  make  his  speech  as  promised. 

As  the  Colonel  stepped  forward,  some  one  in 
the  audience  said  audibly: 

"Fake,"  whereupon  the  Colonel  smilingly  said: 


20  The  Attempted  Assassination  of 

"No,  it's  no  fake,"  and  opening  his  vest,  the 
blood-red  stain  upon  his  linen  was  clearly  visible. 

A  half-stifled  expression  of  horror  swept 
through  the  audience. 

About  the  first  remark  uttered  in  the  speech, 
as  the  Colonel  grinned  broadly  at  the  audience, 
was: 

"It  takes  more  than  one  bullet  to  kill  a  Bull 
Moose.  I'm  all  right,  no  occasion  for  any  sym 
pathy  whatever,  but  I  want  to  take  this  occasion 
within  five  minutes  after  having  been  shot  to  say 
some  things  to  our  people  which  I  hope  no  one 
will  question  the  profound  sincerity  of." 

Throughout  his  speech,  which  continued  for  an 
hour  and  twenty  minutes,  the  doctors  and  his  im 
mediate  staff  of  friends,  sitting  closely  behind  him, 
expected  that  he  might  at  any  moment  collapse. 
I  was  so  persuaded  of  this  that  I  stepped  over  the 
front  of  the  high  platform  to  the  reporters'  section 
immediately  beneath  where  he  was  speaking,  so 
that  I  might  catch  him  if  he  fell  forward. 

These  precautions,  however,  were  unnecessary, 
for,  while  his  speech  lacked  in  the  characteristic 
fluency  of  other  speeches,  while  the  shock  and  pain 
caused  his  argument  to  be  somewhat  labored,  yet 
it  was  with  a  soldierly  firmness  and  iron  determina 
tion,  which  more  than  all  things  in  Roosevelt's 
career  discloses  to  the  country  the  real  Roosevelt, 


Ex-President  Theodore  Roosevelt  21 

who  at  the  close  of  his  official  service  as  President 
in  1909  left  that  high  office  the  most  beloved  pub 
lic  figure  in  our  history  since  Lincoln  fell,  and  the 
most  respected  citizen  of  the  world.  As  was  said 
in  an  editorial  in  the  Chicago  Evening  Post: 

"There  is  no  false  sentiment  here;  there  is  no 
self-seeking.  The  guards  are  down.  The  soul  of 
the  man  stands  forth  as  it  is.  In  the  Valley  of 
the  Shadow  his  own  simple  declaration  of  his  sin 
cerity,  his  own  revelation  of  the  unselfish  quality 
of  his  devotion  to  the  greatest  movement  of  his 
generation,  will  be  the  standard  by  which  history 
will  pass  upon  Theodore  Roosevelt  its  final  judg 
ment.  This  much  they  cannot  take  from  him,  no 
matter  whether  he  is  now  to  live  or  to  die." 

To  the  men  of  America,  who  either  love  or 
hate  Roosevelt  personally,  these  words  from  his 
speech  must  carry  an  imperishable  lesson: 

"The  bullet  is  in  me  now,  so  that  I  cannot  make 
a  very  long  speech.  But  I  will  try  my  best. 

"And  now,  friends,  I  want  to  take  advantage 
of  this  incident  to  say  as  solemn  a  word  of  warning 
as  I  know  how  to  my  fellow  Americans. 

"First  of  all,  I  want  to  say  this  about  myself: 
I  have  altogether  too  many  importast  things  to 
think  of  to  pay  any  heed  or  feel  any  concern  over 
my  own  death. 


22  The  Attempted  Assassination  of 

"Now  I  would  not  speak  to  you  insincerely 
within  five  minutes  of  being  shot.  I  am  telling  you 
the  literal  truth  when  I  say  that  my  concern  is  for 
many  other  things.  It  is  not  in  the  least  for  my 
own  life. 

"I  want  you  to  understand  that  I  am  ahead  of 
the  game  anyway.  No  man  has  had  a  happier  life 
than  I  have  had — a  happier  life  in  every  way. 

"I  have  been  able  to  do  certain  things  that  I 
greatly  wished  to  do,  and  I  am  interested  in  doing 
other  things. 

"I  can  tell  you  with  absolute  truthfulness  that 
I  am  very  much  uninterested  in  whether  I  am  shot 
or  not. 

"It  was  just  as  when  I  was  colonel  of  my  regi 
ment.  I  always  felt  that  a  private  was  to  be  ex 
cused  for  feeling  at  times  some  pangs  of  anxiety 
about  his  personal  safety,  but  I  cannot  understand 
a  man  fit  to  be  a  colonel  who  can  pay  any  heed  to 
his  personal  safety  when  he  is  occupied,  as  he  ought 
to  be  occupied,  with  the  absorbing  desire  to  do 
his  duty. 

"I  am  in  this  cause  with  my  whole  heart  and 
soul;  I  believe  in  the  Progressive  movement — a 
movement  for  the  betterment  of  mankind,  a  move 
ment  for  making  life  a  little  easier  for  all  our  peo 
ple,  a  movement  to  try  to  take  the  burdens  off  the 


Ex-President  Theodore  Roosevelt  23 

man  and  especially  the  woman  in  this  country  who 
is  most  oppressed. 

"I  am  absorbed  in  the  success  of  that  movement. 
I  feel  uncommonly  proud  in  belonging  to  that 
movement. 

"Friends,  I  ask  you  now  this  evening  to  accept 
what  I  am  saying  as  absolute  truth  when  I  tell  you 
I  am  not  thinking  of  my  own  success,  I  am  not 
thinking  of  my  own  life  or  of  anything  connected 
with  me  personally." 

The  disabling  of  Col.  Roosevelt  at  this  tragic 
moment  was  a  great  strategic  loss  in  his  campaign. 
The  mind  of  the  country  was  in  a  pronounced  state 
of  indecision.  He  had  started  at  Detroit,  Mich., 
one  week  before  and  had  planned  to  make  a  great 
series  of  sledge  hammer  speeches  upon  every  vital 
issue  in  the  campaign,  which  plan  took  him  to  the 
very  close  of  the  fight.  He  had  planned  to  put  his 
strongest  opponent  in  a  defensive  position,  the 
effect  of  which,  now  that  all  is  over,  no  man  can 
measure.  Stricken  down,  an  immeasurable  loss 
was  sustained.  In  the  years  that  lie  before,  when 
misjudgment  and  misstatements,  which  are  the 
petty  things  born  of  prejudice,  and  which  die  with 
the  breath  that  gives  them  life,  shall  have  passed 
away,  this  incident  and  the  soldierly  conduct  of  the 
brave  man  who  was  its  victim  will  have  _a  reaV 
chastening  and  \vholesome  historical  significance. 


Page  from  Ex-President  Roosevelt's  Manuscript  of  Speech 
Showing  Bullet  Holes. 


CHAPTER  II. 
*  SPEAKS  TO  GREAT  AUDIENCE. 

Standing  with  his  coat  and  vest  opened,  hold 
ing  before  him  manuscript  of  the  speech  he  had 
prepared  to  deliver,  through  which  were  two  per 
forations  by  Schrank's  bullet,  the  ex-President  was 
given  an  ovation  which  shook  the  mammoth  Audi 
torium,  Milwaukee. 

The  audience  seemed  unable  to  realize  the  truth 
of  the  statement  of  Henry  F.  Cochems,  who  had 
introduced  Col.  Roosevelt,  that  the  ex-President 
had  been  shot.  Col.  Roosevelt  had  opened  his  vest 
to  show  blood  from  his  wound. 

Even  then  many  in  the  audience  did  not  com 
prehend  that  they  were  witnessing  a  scene  destined 
to  go  down  in  history — an  ex-President  of  the 
United  States,  blood  still  flowing  from  the  bullet 
wound  of  a  would-be  assassin,  delivering  a  speech 
from  manuscript  perforated  by  the  bullet  of  the 
assailant. 

Col.  Roosevelt  said: 

"Friends,  I  shall  ask  you  to  be  as  quiet  as  pos 
sible,"  he  said.  "I  don't  know  whether  you  fully 
understand  that  I  have  just  been  shot,  but  it  takes 
more  than  that  to  kill  a  bull  moose.  (Cheers.) 
But  fortunately  I  had  my  manuscript,  so  you  see  I 

'Stenographic  Report  from  The  Milwaukee  Sentinel 


26  The  Attempted  Assassination  of 

was  going  to  make  a  long  speech  (holds  up  manu 
script  with  bullet  hole)  and  there  is  a  bullet- 
there  is  where  the  bullet  went  through  and  it 
probably  saved  me  from  it  going  into  my  heart. 
The  bullet  is  in  me  now,  so  that  I  can  not  make  a 
very  long  speech,  but  I  will  try  my  best.  ( Cheers. ) 
"And  now,  friends,  I  want  to  take  advantage 
of  this  incident  and  say  a  word  of  a  solemn  warn 
ing,  as  I  know  how  to  my  fellow  countrymen. 
First  of  all,  I  want  to  say  this  about  myself:  I 
have  altogether  too  important  things  to  think  of  to 
feel  any  concern  over  my  own  death,  and  now  I 
can  not  speak  to  you  insincerely  within  five  minutes 
of  being  shot.  I  am  telling  you  the  literal  truth 
when  I  say  that  my  concern  is  for  many  other 
things.  It  is  not  in  the  least  for  my  own  life.  I 
want  you  to  understand  that  I  am  ahead  of  the 
game,  anyway.  (Applause  and  cheers.)  No  man 
has  had  a  happier  life  than  I  have  led;  a  happier 
life  in  every  way.  I  have  been  able  to  do  certain 
things  that  I  greatly  wished  to  do  and  I  am  inter 
ested  in  doing  other  things.  I  can  tell  you  with 
absolute  truthfulness  that  I  am  very  much  unin 
terested  in  whether  I  am  shot  or  not.  It  was  just 
as  when  I  was  colonel  of  my  regiment.  I  always 
felt  that  a  private  was  to  be  excused  for  feeling  at 
times  some  pangs  of  anxiety  about  his  personal 
safety,  but  I  can  not  understand  a  man  fit  to  be  a 


Ex-President  Theodore  Roosevelt  27 

colonel  who  can  pay  any  heed  to  his  personal  safety 
when  he  is  occupied  as  he  ought  to  be  occupied 
with  the  absorbing  desire  to  do  his  duty.  (Ap 
plause  and  cheers.) 

"I  am  in  this  cause  with  my  whole  heart  and 
soul.  I  believe  that  the  progressive  movement  is 
for  making  life  a  little  easier  for  all  our  people;  a 
movement  to  try  to  take  the  burdens  off  the  men 
and  especially  the  women  and  children  of  this 
country.  I  am  absorbed  in  the  success  of  that 
movement. 

"Friends,  I  ask  you  now  this  evening  to  accept 
what  I  am  saying  as  absolutely  true,  when  I  tell 
you  I  am  not  thinking  of  my  own  success.  I  am 
not  thinking  of  my  life  or  of  anything  connected 
with  me  personally/  I  am  thinking  of  the  move 
ment.  I  say  this  by  way  of  introduction  because  I 
want  to  say  something  very  serious  to  our  people 
and  especially  to  the  newspapers.  I  don't  know 
anything  about  who  the  man  was  who  shot  me  to 
night.  He  was  seized  at  once  by  one  of  the  stenog 
raphers  in  my  party,  Mr.  Martin,  and  I  suppose 
is  now  in  the  hands  of  the  police.  He  shot  to  kill. 
He  shot — the  shot,  the  bullet  went  in  here — I  will 
show  you  (opened  his  vest  and  shows  bloody  stain 
in  the  right  breast;  stain  covered  the  entire  lower 
half  of  his  shirt  to  the  waist). 


28  The  Attempted  Assassination  of 

"I  am  going  to  ask  you  to  be  as  quiet  as  possible 
for  I  am  not  able  to  give  the  challenge  of  the  bull 
moose  quite  as  loudly.  Now  I  do  not  know  who 
he  was  or  what  party  he  represented.  He  was  a 
coward.  He  stood  in  the  darkness  in  the  crowd 
around  the  automobile  and  when  they  cheered  me 
and  I  got  up  to  bow,  he  stepped  forward  and  shot 
me  in  the  darkness. 

"Now  friends,  of  course,  I  do  not  know,  as  I 
say,  anything  about  him,  but  it  is  a  very  natural 
thing  that  weak  and  vicious  minds  should  be  in 
flamed  to  acts  of  violence  by  the  kind  of  awful  men 
dacity  and  abuse  that  have  been  heaped  upon  me 
for  the  last  three  months  by  the  papers  in  the  in 
terest  of  not  only  Mr.  Debs  but  of  Mr.  Wilson  and 
Mr.  Taft.  (Applause  and  cheers.) 

"Friends,  I  will  disown  and  repudiate  any  man 
of  my  party  who  attacks  with  such  foul  slander  and 
abuse  any  opponent  of  any  other  party  (applause) 
and  now  I  wish  to  say  seriously  to  all  the  daily 
newspapers,  to  the  republican,  the  democratic  and 
the  socialist  parties  that  they  cannot  month  in  and 
month  out  and  year  in  and  year  out  make  the  kind 
of  untruthful,  of  bitter  assault  that  they  have  made 
and  not  expect  that  brutal  violent  natures,  or  brutal 
and  violent  characters,  especially  when  the  bru 
tality  is  accompanied  by  a  not  very  strong  mind; 


Ex-President  Theodore  Roosevelt  29 

they  cannot  expect  that  such  natures  will  be  un 
affected  by  it. 

"Now  friends,  I  am  not  speaking  for  myself  at 
all.  I  give  you  my  word,  I  do  not  care  a  rap  about 
being  shot  not  a  rap.  (Applause.) 

"I  have  had  a  good  many  experiences  in  my 
time  and  this  is  one  of  them.  What  I  care  for  is 
my  country.  (Applause  and  cheers.)  I  wish  I 
were  able  to  impress  upon  my  people — our  peo 
ple,  the  duty  to  feel  strongly  but  to  speak  the 
truth  of  their  opponents.  I  say  now,  I  have  never 
said  one  word  against  any  opponent  that  I  can  not 
—on  the  stump — that  I  can  not  defend.  I  have 
said  nothing  that  I  could  not  substantiate  and  noth 
ing  that  I  ought  not  to  have  said — nothing  that  I- 
nothing  that  looking  back  at  I  would  not  say  again. 

"Now  friends,  it  ought  not  to  be  too  much  to 
ask  that  our  opponents  (speaking  to  some  one  on 
the  stage)  I  am  not  sick  at  all.  I  am  all  right.  I 
can  not  tell  you  of  what  infinitesimal  importance 
I  regard  this  incident  as  compared  with  the  great 
issues  at  stake  in  this  campaign  and  I  ask  it  not  for 
my  sake,  not  the  least  in  the  world,  but  for  the  sake 
of  our  common  country,  that  they  make  up  their 
minds  to  speak  only  the  truth,  and  not  to  use  the 
kind  of  slander  and  mendacity  which  if  taken  seri 
ously  must  incite  weak  and  violent  natures  to 
crimes  of  violence.  (Applause.)  Don't  you  make 


30  The  Attempted  Assassination  of 

any  mistake.  Don't  you  pity  me.  I  am  all  right. 
I  am  all  right  and  you  can  not  escape  listening  to 
the  speech  either.  (Laughter  and  applause.) 

"And  now,  friends,  this  incident  that  has  just 
occurred — this  effort  to  assassinate  me,  emphasizes 
to  a  peculiar  degree  the  need  of  this  progressive 
movement.  (Applause  and  cheers.)  Friends, 
every  good  citizen  ought  to  do  everything  in  his  or 
her  power  to  prevent  the  coming  of  the  day  when 
we  shall  see  in  this  country  two  recognized  creeds 
righting  one  another,  when  we  shall  see  the  creed  of 
the  'Haveners'  arraigned  against  the  creed  of  the 
'Haves.'  When  that  day  comes  then  such  incidents 
as  this  tonight  will  be  commonplace  in  our  history. 
When  you  make  poor  men — when  you  permit  the 
conditions  to  grow  such  that  the  poor  man  as  such 
will  be  swayed  by  his  sense  of  injury  against  the 
men  who  try  to  hold  what  they  improperly  have 
won,  when  that  day  comes,  the  most  awful  passions 
will  be  let  loose  and  it  will  be  an  ill  day  for  our 
country. 

"Now,  friends,  what  we  who  are  in  this  move 
ment  are  endeavoring  to  do  is  to  forestall  any  such 
movement  by  making  this  a  movement  for  justice 
now — a  movement  in  which  we  ask  all  just  men  of 
generous  hearts  to  join  with  the  men  who  feel  in 
their  souls  that  lift  upward  which  bids  them  refuse 
to  be  satisfied  themselves  while  their  fellow  coun- 


Ex-President  Theodore  Roosevelt  31 

trymen  and  countrywomen  suffer  from  avoidable 
misery.  Now,  friends,  what  we  progressives  are 
trying  to  do  is  to  enroll  rich  or  poor,  whatever  their 
social  or  industrial  position,  to  stand  together  for 
the  most  elementary  rights  of  good  citizenship, 
those  elementary  rights  which  are  the  foundation 
of  good  citizenship  in  this  great  republic  of  ours. 

"My  friends  are  a  little  more  nervous  than  I 
am.  Don't  you  waste  any  sympathy  on  me.  I  have 
had  an  Al  time  in  life  and  I  am  having  it  now. 

"I  never  in  my  life  had  any  movement  in  which 
I  was  able  to  serve  with  such  wholehearted  devo 
tion  as  in  this ;  in  wrhich  I  was  able  to  feel  as  I  do 
in  this  that  common  weal.  I  have  fought  for  the 
good  of  our  common  country.  (Applause.) 

"And  now,  friends,  I  shall  have  to  cut  short 
much  of  the  speech  that  I  meant  to  give  you,  but 
I  want  to  touch  on  just  two  or  three  of  the  points. 

"In  the  first  place,  speaking  to  you  here  in  Mil 
waukee,  I  wish  to  say  that  the  progressive  party  is 
making  its  appeal  to  all  our  fellow  citizens  with 
out  any  regard  to  their  creed  or  to  their  birthplace. 
We  do  not  regard  as  essential  the  way  in  which  a 
man  worships  his  God  or  as  being  affected  by 
where  he  was  born.  We  regard  it  as  a  matter  of 
spirit  and  purpose.  In  New  York,  while  I  was 
police  commissioner,  the  two  men  from  whom  I 
got  the  most  assistance  were  Jacob  Ries,  who  was 


X-Ray  Photograph  Showing  Bullet  as  it  Remains  in 
Theodore  Roosevelt. 


Ex-President  Theodore  Roosevelt  33 

born  in  Denmark  and  Oliver  Van  Briesen,  who 
was  born  in  Germany,  both  of  them  as  fine  exam 
ples  of  the  best  and  highest  American  citizenship 
as  you  could  find  in  any  part  of  this  country. 

"I  have  just  been  introduced  by  one  of  your 
own  men  here,  Henry  Cochems.  His  grandfather, 
his  father  and  that  father's  seven  brothers  all  served 
in  the  United  States  army  and  they  entered  it  four 
years  after  they  had  come  to  this  country  from  Ger 
many  (applause).  Two  of  them  left  their  lives, 
spent  their  lives  on  the  field  of  battle — I  am  all 
right — I  am  a  little  sore.  Anybody  has  a  right  to 
be  sore  with  a  bullet  in  him.  You  would  find  that 
if  I  was  in  battle  now  I  would  be  leading  my  men 
just  the  same.  Just  the  same  way  I  am  going  to 
make  this  speech. 

"At  one  time  I  promoted  five  men  for  gallantry 
on  the  field  of  battle.  Afterward  it  happened  to 
be  found  in  making  some  inquiries  about  that  I 
found  that  it  happened  that  two  of  them  were  Prot 
estants,  two  Catholics  and  one  a  Jew.  One  Protes 
tant  came  from  Germany  and  one  was  born  in  Ire 
land.  I  did  not  promote  them  because  of  their 
religion.  It  just  happened  that  way.  If  all  five  of 
them  had  been  Jews,  I  would  have  promoted  them, 
or  if  all  five  had  been  Protestants  I  would  have 
promoted  them;  or  if  they  had  been  Catholics.  In 
that  regiment  I  had  a  man  born  in  Italy  who  dis- 


34  The  Attempted  Assassination  of 

tinguished  himself  by  gallantry,  there  was  a  young 
fellow,  a  son  of  Polish  parents,  and  another  who 
came  here  when  he  was  a  child  from  Bohemia,  who 
likewise  distinguished  themselves,  and  friends,  I 
assure  you,  that  I  was  incapable  of  considering  any 
question  whatever,  but  the  worth  of  each  indi 
vidual  as  a  fighting  man.  If  he  was  a  good  fighting 
man,  then  I  saw  that  Uncle  Sam  got  the  benefit 
from  it.  That  is  all.  (Applause.) 

"I  make  the  same  appeal  in  our  citizenship.  1 
ask  in  our  civic  life  we  in  the  same  way  pay  heed 
only  to  the  man's  quality  of  citizenship  to  repudiate 
as  the  worst  enemy  that  we  can  have  whoever  tries 
to  get  us  to  discriminate  for  or  against  any  man 
because  of  his  creed  or  his  birthplace. 

"Now,  friends,  in  the  same  way  I  want  our  peo 
ple  to  stand  by  one  another  without  regard  to  dif 
ferences  or  class  or  occupation.  I  have  always 
stood  by  the  labor  unions.  I  am  going  to  make  one 
omission  tonight.  I  have  prepared  my  speech  be 
cause  Mr.  Wilson  had  seen  fit  to  attack  me  by 
showing  up  his  record  in  comparison  with  mine. 
But  I  am  not  going  to  do  that  tonight.  I  am  going 
to  simply  speak  of  what  I  myself  have  done  and  of 
what  I  think  ought  to  be  done  in  this  country  of 
ours.  (Applause.) 

"It  is  essential  that  there  should  be  organiza 
tions  of  labor.  This  is  an  era  of  organization. 


Ex-President  Theodore  Roosevelt  35 

Capital  organizes  and  therefore  labor  must  organ 
ize.     (Applause.) 

"My  appeal  for  organized  labor  is  twofold,  to 
the  outsider  and  the  capitalist  I  make  my  appeal  to 
treat  the  laborers  fairly,  to  recognize  the  fact  that 
he  must  organize,  that  there  must  be  such  organi 
zation,  that  it  is  unfair  and  unjust — that  the  labor 
ing  man  must  organize  for  his  own  protection  and 
that  it  is  the  duty  of  the  rest  of  us  to  help  him  and 
not  hinder  him  in  organizing.  That  is  one-half  of 
the  appeal  that  I  make. 

uNow  the  other  half  is  to  the  labor  man  himself. 
My  appeal  to  him  is  to  remember  that  as  he  wants 
justice,  so  he  must  do  justice.  I  want  every  labor 
man,  every  labor  leader,  every  organized  union 
man  to  take  the  lead  in  denouncing  crime  or  vio 
lence.  (Applause.)  I  want  them  to  take  the  lead 
(applause)  in  denouncing  disorder  and  inciting 
riot,  that  in  this  country  we  shall  proceed  under  the 
protection  of  our  laws  and  with  all  respect  to  the 
laws  and  I  want  the  labor  men  to  feel  in  their  turn 
that  exactly  as  justice  must  be  done  them  so  they 
must  do  justice.  That  they  must  bear  their  duty 
as  citizens,  their  duty  to  this  great  country  of  ours 
and  that  they  must  not  rest  content  without  unless 
they  do  that  duty  to  the  fullest  degree.  (Interrup 
tion.) 


36  The  Attempted  Assassination  of 

"I  know  these  doctors  when  they  get  hold  of  me 
they  will  never  let  me  go  back  and  there  are  just  a 
few  things  more  that  I  want  to  say  to  you. 

"And  here  I  have  got  to  make  one  comparison 
between  Mr.  Wilson  and  myself  simply  because  he 
has  invited  it  and  I  can  not  shrink  from  it. 

"Mr.  Wilson  has  seen  fit  to  attack  me,  to  say 
that  I  did  not  do  much  against  the  trusts  when  I 
was  president.  I  have  got  two  answers  to  make  to 
that.  In  the  first  place  what  I  did  and  then  I  want 
to  compare  what  I  did  while  I  was  president  with 
what  Mr.  Wilson  did  not  do  while  he  was  gover 
nor.  (Applause  and  laughter.) 

"When  I  took  office  as  president — (turning  to 
stage)  "How  long  have  I  talked?" 

Answer:    "Three-quarters  of  an  hour." 

"Well,  I  will  take  a  quarter  of  an  hour  more. 
(Laughter  and  applause.)  When  I  took  office  the 
anti-trust  law  was  practically  a  dead  letter  and  the 
interstate  commerce  law  in  as  poor  a  condition.  I 
had  to  revive  both  laws.  I  did.  I  enforced  both. 
It  will  be  easy  enough  to  do  now  what  I  did  then, 
but  the  reason  that  it  is  easy  now  is  because  I  did  it 
when  it  was  hard.  (Applause  and  cheers.) 

"Nobody  was  doing  anything.  I  found  speed 
ily  that  the  interstate  commerce  law  by  being  made 
more  perfect  could  be  a  most  useful  instrument  for 
helping  solve  some  of  our  industrial  problems  with 


Ex-President  Theodore  Roosevelt  37 

the  anti-trust  law.  I  speedily  found  that  almost  the 
only  positive  good  achieved  by  such  a  successful 
lawsuit  as  the  Northern  Securities  suit,  for  in 
stance,  was  for  establishing  the  principle  that  the 
government  was  supreme  over  the  big  corporation, 
but  that  by  itself,  or  that  law  did  not  do — did  not 
accomplish  any  of  the  things  that  we  ought  to  have 
accomplished,  and  so  I  began  to  fight  for  the 
amendment  of  the  law  along  the  lines  of  the  inter 
state  commerce,  and  now  we  propose,  we  progres 
sives,  to  establish  an  interstate  commission  having 
the  same  power  over  industrial  concerns  that  the 
interstate  commerce  commission  has  over  railroads, 
so  that  whenever  there  is  in  the  future  a  decision 
rendered  in  such  important  matters  as  the  recent 
suits  against  the  Standard  Oil,  the  sugar — no,  not 
that — tobacco — the  tobacco  trust — we  will  have  a 
commission  which  will  see  that  the  decree  of  the 
court  is  really  made  effective;  that  it  is  not  made  a 
merely  nominal  decree. 

"Our  opponents  have  said  that  we  intend  to  le 
galize  monopoly.  Nonsense.  They  have  legalized 
monopoly.  At  this  moment  the  Standard  Oil  and 
Tobacco  trust  monopolies  are  legalized;  they  are 
being  carried  on  under  the  decree  of  the  Supreme 
Court.  (Applause.) 

"Our  proposal  is  really  to  break  up  monopoly. 
Our  proposal  is  to  put  in  the  law — to  lay  down  cer- 


38  The  Attempted  Assassination  of 

tain  requirements  and  then  require  the  commerce 
commission — the  industrial  commission  to  see  that 
the  trusts  live  up  to  those  requirements.  Our  oppo 
nents  have  spoken  as  if  we  were  going  to  let  the 
commission  declare  what  the  requirements  should 
be.  Not  at  all.  We  are  going  to  put  the  require 
ments  in  the  law  and  then  see  that  the  commission 
makes  the  trust.  (Interruption.)  You  see  they 
don't  trust  me.  (Laughter.)  That  the  commission 
requires  them  to  obey  that  law. 

"And  now,  friends,  as  Mr.  Wilson  has  invited 
the  comparison  I  only  want  to  say  this:  Mr.  Wil 
son  has  said  that  the  states  are  the  proper  author 
ities  to  deal  with  the  trusts.  Well,  about  80  per 
cent  of  the  trusts  are  organized  in  New  Jersey. 
The  Standard  Oil,  the  tobacco,  the  sugar,  the  beef, 
all  those  trusts  are  organized  in  New  Jersey  and 
Mr.  Wilson — and  the  laws  of  New  Jersey  say  that 
their  charters  can  at  any  time  be  amended  or  re 
pealed  if  they  misbehave  themselves  and  it  gives 
the  government — the  laws  give  the  government 
ample  power  to  act  about  those  laws  and  Mr.  Wil 
son  has  been  govenor  a  year  and  nine  months  and 
he  has  not  opened  his  lips.  (Applause  and  cheers.) 
The  chapter  describing  of  what  Mr.  Wilson  has 
done  about  the  trusts  in  New  Jersey  would  read 
precisely  like  a  chapter  describing  the  snakes  in 
Ireland,  which  ran:  'There  are  no  snakes  in  Ire- 


Ex-President  Theodore  Roosevelt  39 

land.'  (Laughter  and  applause.)  Mr.  Wilson  has 
done  precisely  and  exactly  nothing  about  the  trusts. 

"I  tell  you  and  I  told  you  at  the  beginning  I  do 
not  say  anything  on  the  stump  that  I  do  not  believe. 
I  do  not  say  anything  I  do  not  know.  Let  any  of 
Mr.  Wilson's  friends  on  Tuesday  point  out  one 
thing  or  let  Mr.  Wilson  point  out  one  thing  he  has 
done  about  the  trusts  as  governor  of  New  Jersey. 
(Applause.) 

"And  now,  friends,  I  want  to  say  one  special 
thing  here— 

(Col.  Roosevelt  turned  to  the  table  upon  the 
stage  to  reach  for  his  manuscript,  but  found  it  in 
the  hands  of  some  one  upon  the  stage.  He  de 
manded  it  back  with  the  words:  "Teach  them  not 
to  grab,"  which  provoked  laughter.) 

"And  now,  friends,  there  is  one  thing  I  want  to 
say  specially  to  you  people  here  in  Wisconsin.  All 
that  I  have  said  so  far  is  what  I  would  say  in  any 
part  of  this  union.  I  have  a  peculiar  right  to  ask 
that  in  this  great  contest  you  men  and  women  of 
Wisconsin  shall  stand  with  us.  (Applause.)  You 
have  taken  the  lead  in  progressive  movements  here 
in  Wisconsin.  You  have  taught  the  rest  of  us  to 
look  to  you  for  inspiration  and  leadership.  Now, 
friends,  you  have  made  that  movement  here  locally. 
You  will  be  doing  a  dreadful  injustice  to  your 
selves;  you  will  be  doing  a  dreadful  injustice  to  the 


John  Flammang  Schrank. 


Ex-President  Theodore  Roosevelt  41 

rest  of  us  throughout  this  union  if  you  fail  to  stand 
with  us  now  that  we  are  making  this  national  move 
ment  (applause)  and  what  I  am  about  to  say  now 
I  want  you  to  understand  if  I  speak  of  Mr.  Wilson 
I  speak  with  no  mind  of  bitterness.  I  merely  want 
to  discuss  the  difference  of  policy  between  the  pro 
gressive  and  the  democratic  party  and  to  ask  you  to 
think  for  yourselves  which  party  you  will  follow, 
I  will  say  that,  friends,  because  the  republican 
party  is  beaten.  Nobody  need  to  have  any  idea  that 
anything  can  be  done  with  the  republican  party. 
(Cheers  and  applause.) 

"When  the  republican  party — not  the  republi 
can  party — when  the  bosses  in  the  control  of  the 
republican  party,  the  Barneses  and  Penroses  last 
June  stole  the  nomination  and  wrecked  the  repub 
lican  party  for  good  and  all.  (Applause.)  I  want 
to  point  out  to  you,  nominally,  they  stole  that  nomi 
nation  from  me,  but  really  it  was  from  you.  (Ap 
plause.)  They  did  not  like  me  and  the  longer  they 
live  the  less  cause  they  will  have  to  like  me.  (Ap 
plause  and  laughter.)  But  while  they  do  not  like 
me,  they  dread  you.  You  are  the  people  that  they 
dread.  They  dread  the  people  themselves,  and 
those  bosses  and  the  big  special  interests  behind 
them  made  up  their  mind  that  they  would  rather 
see  the  republican  party  wrecked  than  see  it  come 
under  the  control  of  the  people  themselves.  So  I 


42  The  Attempted  Assassination  of 

am  not  dealing  with  the  republican  party.  There 
are  only  two  ways  you  can  vote  this  year.  You  can 
be  progressive  or  reactionary.  Whether  you  vote 
republican  or  democratic  it  does  not  make  any  dif 
ference,  you  are  voting  reactionary."  (Applause.) 

Col.  Roosevelt  stopped  to  take  a  drink  of  water 
and  the  doctors  remonstrated  with  him  to  stop  talk 
ing,  to  which  he  replied :  "It  is  getting  to  be  better 
and  better  as  time  goes  on.  (Turning  to  the  audi 
ence)  If  these  doctors  don't  behave  themselves  I 
won't  let  them  look  at  me  at  all."  (Laughter  and 
applause.) 

"Now  the  democratic  party  in  its  platform  and 
through  the  utterances  of  Mr.  Wilson  has  distinctly 
committed  itself  to  old  flintlock,  muzzle  loaded 
doctrine  of  states  right  and  I  have  said  distinctly 
that  we  are  for  the  people's  right.  We  are  for  the 
rights  of  the  people.  If  they  can  be  obtained  best 
through  the  national  government,  then  we  are  for 
national  rights.  We  are  for  the  people's  rights 
however  it  is  necessary  to  secure  them. 

"Mr.  Wilson  has  made  a  long  essay  against 
Senator  Beveridge's  bill  to  abolish  child  labor.  It 
is  the  same  kind  of  an  argument  that  would  be 
made  against  our  bill  to  prohibit  women  from 
working  more  than  eight  hours  a  day  in  industry. 
It  is  the  same  kind  of  argument  that  would  have  to 
be  made,  if  it  is  true,  it  would  apply  equally  against 


Ex-President  Theodore  Roosevelt  43 

our  proposal  to  insist  that  in  continuous  industries 
there  shall  be  by  law  one  day's  rest  in  seven  and  a 
three-shift  eight  hour  day.  You  have  labor  laws 
here  in  Wisconsin,  and  any  Chamber  of  Commerce 
will  tell  you  that  because  of  that  fact  there  are  in 
dustries  that  will  not  come  into  Wisconsin.  They 
prefer  to  stay  outside  where  they  can  work  chil 
dren  of  tender  years;  where  they  can  work  women 
fourteen  and  sixteen  hours  a  day,  where,  if  it  is  a 
continuous  industry,  they  can  work  men  twelve 
hours  a  day  and  seven  days  a  week. 

"Now,  friends,  I  know  that  you  of  Wisconsin 
would  never  repeal  those  laws  even  if  they  are  to 
your  commercial  hurt,  just  as  I  am  trying  to  get 
New  York  to  adopt  such  laws  even  though  it  will 
be  to  New  York's  commercial  hurt.  But  if  pos 
sible,  I  want  to  arrange  it  so  that  we  can  have  jus 
tice  without  commercial  hurt,  and  you  can  only  get 
that  if  you  have  justice  enforced  nationally.  You 
won't  be  burdened  in  Wisconsin  with  industries  not 
coming  to  the  state  if  the  same  good  laws  are  ex 
tended  all  over  the  other  states.  (Applause.)  Do 
you  see  what  I  mean?  The  states  all  compete  in  a 
common  market  and  it  is  not  justice  to  the  employ 
ers  of  a  state  that  has  enforced  just  and  proper  laws 
to  have  them  exposed  to  the  competition  of  another 
state  where  no  such  laws  are  enforced.  Now  the 
democratic  platform,  their  speaker  declares  that  we 


44  The  Attempted  Assassination  of 

shall  not  have  such  laws.  Mr.  Wilson  has  dis 
tinctly  declared  that  you  shall  not  have  a  national 
law  to  prohibit  the  labor  of  children,  to  prohibit 
child  labor.  He  has  distinctly  declared  that  we 
shall  not  have  law  to  establish  a  minimum  wage 
for  women. 

"I  ask  you  to  look  at  our  declaration  and  hear 
and  read  our  platform  about  social  and  industrial 
justice  and  then,  friends,  vote  for  the  progressive 
ticket  without  regard  to  me,  without  regard  to  my 
personality,  for  only  by  voting  for  that  platform 
can  you  be  true  to  the  cause  of  progress  throughout 
this  union.  (Applause.) 

All  through  his  talk,  it  was  evident  that  his 
physicians  feared  his  injury  had  been  more  serious 
than  he  was  willing  to  admit.  That  a  man  with  a 
bullet  embedded  in  his  body  could  stand  up  there 
and  insist  on  giving  the  audience  the  speech  which 
they  had  come  to  hear  was  almost  incredible  and  it 
was  plain  the  physicians  as  well  as  the  other  friends 
of  the  colonel  on  the  stage  were  greatly  alarmed. 

Col.  Roosevelt,  however,  would  have  none  of  it. 
"Sit  down,  sit  down,"  he  said  to  those  who,  when 
he  faltered  once  or  twice,  half  rose  to  come  towards 
him.  He  insisted  that  he  was  having  a  good  time 
in  spite  of  his  injury. 


Ex-President  Theodore  Roosevelt  45 

Finally  a  motherly  looking  woman,  a  few  rows 
of  seats  back  from  the  stage  rose  and  said,  uMr. 
Roosevelt,  we  all  wish  you  would  be  seated." 

To  this  the  colonel  quickly  replied:  "I  thank 
you,  madam,  but  I  don't  mind  it  a  bit." 

To  those  on  the  stage,  who  wished  he  would 
adopt  the  suggestion  of  being  seated,  he  said: 
"Good  gracious  if  you  saw  me  in  the  saddle  at  the 
head  of  my  troops  with  a  bullet  in  me  you  would 
not  mind." 

The  only  time  Col.  Roosevelt  gave  up  and  took 
a  seat  was  when  he  came  to  a  quotation  from  La 
Toilette's  weekly  which  paid  him  a  tribute  of 
praise  for  his  work  as  president.  This  was  read 
by  Assemblyman  T.  J.  Mahon,  while  the  colonel 
rested. 

At  the  conclusion  of  the  reading  Col.  Roosevelt 
said  that  he  was  the  same  man  now  that  he  was  then. 
He  had  not  been  president  since  1909  so  that  what 
he  was  described  as  being  then  he  was  now. 

T.  J.  Mahon  read  this  editorial  from  La  Fol- 
lette's  magazine  of  March  13,  1909: 

"Roosevelt  steps  from  the  stage  gracefully.  He 
has  ruled  his  party  to  a  large  extent  against  its  will. 
He  has  played  a  large  part  of  the  world's  work  for 
the  past  seven  years.  The  activities  of  his  remark 
ably  forceful  personality  have  been  so  manifold 
that  it  will  be  long  before  his  true  rating  will  be 


46  The  Attempted  Assassination  of 

fixed  in  the  opinion  of  the  race.  He  is  said  to  think 
that  the  three  great  things  done  by  him  are  the 
undertaking  of  the  construction  of  the  Panama 
canal  and  its  rapid  and  successful  carrying  for 
ward,  the  making  of  peace  between  Russia  and 
Japan,  and  the  sending  around  the  world  of  the 
fleet. 

"These  are  important  things  but  many  will  be 
slow  to  think  them  his  great  services.  The  Panama 
canal  will  surely  serve  mankind  when  in  operation ; 
and  the  manner  of  organizing  this  work  seems  to 
be  fine.  But  no  one  can  yet  say  whether  this  project 
will  be  a  gigantic  success  or  a  gigantic  failure;  and 
the  task  is  one  which  must  in  the  nature  of  things 
have  been  undertaken  and  carried  through  some 
time  soon,  as  historic  periods  go,  anyhow.  The 
peace  of  Portsmouth  was  a  great  thing  to  be  re 
sponsible  for,  and  Roosevelt's  good  offices  undoubt 
edly  saved  a  great  and  bloody  battle  in  Manchuria. 
But  the  war  was  fought  out,  and  the  parties  ready 
to  quit,  and  there  is  reason  to  think  that  it  is  only 
when  this  situation  was  arrived  at  that  the  good 
offices  of  the  President  of  the  United  States  were, 
more  or  less  indirectly,  invited.  The  fleet's  cruise 
was  a  strong  piece  of  diplomacy,  by  which  we  in 
formed  Japan  that  we  will  send  our  fleet  wherever 
we  please  and  whenever  we  please.  It  worked  out 
well. 


Ex-President  Theodore  Roosevelt  47 

"But  none  of  these  things,  it  will  seem  to  many, 
can  compare  with  some  of  Roosevelt's  other 
achievements.  Perhaps  he  is  loath  to  take  credit 
as  a  reformer,  for  he  is  prone  to  spell  the  word 
with  question  marks,  and  to  speak  disparingly  of 
'reform.' 

"But  for  all  that,  this  contention  of  'reformers' 
made  reform  respectable  in  the  United  States,  and 
this  rebuke  of  'muck-rakers'  has  been  the  chief 
agent  in  making  the  history  of  'much-raking'  in  the 
United  States  a  national  one,  conceded  to  be  useful. 
He  has  preached  from  the  White  House  many. doc 
trines;  but  among  them  he  has  left  impressed  on 
the  American  mind  the  one  great  truth  of  economic 
justice  couched  in  the  pithy  and  stinging  phrase 
'the  square  deal.'  The  task  of  making  reform  re 
spectable  in  a  commercialized  world,  and  of  giving 
the  national  a  slogan  in  a  phrase,  is  greater  than  the 
man  who  performed  it  is  likely  to  think. 

"And,  then,  there  is  the  great  and  statesmanlike 
movement  for  the  conservation  of  our  national  re 
sources,  into  which  Roosevelt  so  energetically 
threw  himself  at  a  time  when  the  nation  as  a  whole 
knew  not  that  we  are  ruining  and  bankrupting  our 
selves  as  fast  as  we  can.  This  is  probably  the  great 
est  thing  Roosevelt  did,  undoubtedly.  This  globe 
is  the  capital  stock  of  the  race.  It  is  just  so  much 
coal  and  oil  and  gas.  This  may  be  economized  or 


48  The  Attempted  Assassination  of 

wasted.  This  same  thing  is  true  of  phosphates  and 
other  mineral  resources.  Our  water  resources  are 
immense,  and  we  are  only  just  beginning  to  use 
them.  Our  forests  have  been  destroyed;  they  must 
be  restored.  Our  soils  are  being  depleted;  they 
must  be  built  up  and  conserved. 

"These  questions  are  not  of  this  day  only,  or  of 
this  generation.  They  belong  all  to  the  future. 
Their  consideration  requires  that  high  moral  tone 
which  regards  the  earth  as  the  home  of  a  posterity 
to  whom  we  owe  a  sacred  duty. 

"This  immense  idea,  Roosevelt,  with  high 
statesmanship,  dinned  into  the  ears  of  the  nation 
until  the  nation  heeded.  He  held  it  so  high  that  it 
attracted  the  attention  of  the  neighboring  nations 
of  the  continent,  and  will  so  spread  and  intensify 
that  we  will  soon  see  world's  conferences  devoted 
to  it. 

"Nothing  can  be  greater  or  finer  than  this.  It 
is  so  great  and  so  fine  that  when  the  historian  of  the 
future  shall  speak  of  Theodore  Roosevelt,  he  is 
likely  to  say  that  he  did  many  notable  things, 
among  them  that  of  inaugurating  the  movement 
which  finally  resulted  in  the  square  deal,  but  that 
his  greatest  work  was  inspiring  and  actually  begin 
ning  a  world  movement  for  staying  terrestrial 
waste  and  saving  for  the  human  race  the  things 
upon  which,  and  upon  which  alone,  a  great  and 


Ex-President  Theodore  Roosevelt  49 

peaceful  and  progressive  and  happy  race  life  can 
be  founded. 

"What  statesman  in  all  history  has  done  any 
thing  calling  for  so  wide  a  view  and  for  a  purpose 
more  lofty?" 


tWW^WK 


CHAPTER  III. 
ROOSEVELT  IN  THE  EMERGENCY. 

After  Colonel  Roosevelt  had  finished  speaking 
at  the  Auditorium,  the  effect  of  the  shock  and  loss 
of  blood  from  the  shot,  was  quite  manifest  in  his 
appearance.  Despite  this  fact,  however,  he  walked 
with  firm  step  to  an  automobile  waiting  at  the  rear 
of  the  big  hall,  and  guarded  by  a  group  of  friends, 
was  driven  rapidly  to  the  Johnston  Emergency 
hospital.  Preparation  had  there  been  made  for  a 
careful  examination  and  for  treatment  by  Dr. 
Scurry  L.  Terrell,  who  attended  Col.  Roosevelt 
during  his  entire  trip,  Dr.  R.  G.  Sayle  and  Dr.  T. 
A.  Stratton,  both  of  Milwaukee. 

At  the  hospital,  Dr.  Joseph  Colt  Bloodgood,  a 
surgeon  of  the  faculty  of  Johns-Hopkins  univer 
sity,  was  invited  into  the  consultation.  The  Colo 
nel's  first  thought  had  been  to  reassure  Mrs.  Roose 
velt  and  family  against  any  unnecessary  fear,  and 
before  he  received  treatment,  he  sent  a  long  reas 
suring  telegram,  together  with  a  telegram  to  Seth 
Bullock,  whose  telegram  was  one  of  the  first  of  the 
stream  of  telegrams  which  began  pouring  in  for 
news  of  the  patient's  condition. 

During  the  preliminary  examination  of  the 
wound  by  the  doctors  in  the  Johnston  Emergency 


52  The  Attempted  Assassination  of 

hospital,  preparations  were  completed  to  secure 
X-ray  pictures  under  the  direction  of  Dr.  J.  S. 
Janssen,  Roentgenologist,  Milwaukee.  Dr.  Jans- 
sen  secured  his  views  and  left  for  his  laboratory  to 
develop  the  negatives. 

While  these  negatives  were  being  secured,  it 
was  determined  by  the  doctors  that  no  great  addi 
tional  danger  would  be  incurred  if  Col.  Roosevelt 
were  moved  to  a  train,  and  by  special  train  to  Chi 
cago,  which  plan  he  had  proposed,  so  that  he  might 
be  nearer  to  the  center  of  his  fight.  He  was  moved 
by  ambulance  to  the  train,  which  left  Milwaukee 
shortly  after  midnight. 

In  the  meantime,  the  completion  of  the  X-ray 
pictures  disclosed  the  fact  that  the  bullet  laid  be 
tween  the  fourth  and  fifth  ribs,  three  and  one-half 
inches  from  the  surface  of  the  chest,  on  the  right 
side,  and  later  examinations  disclosed  that  it  had 
shattered  the  fourth  rib  somewhat,  and  was  sepa 
rated  by  only  a  delicate  tissue  from  the  pleural 
cavity. 

By  a  miracle  it  had  spent  its  force,  for  had  it 
entered  slightly  farther,  it  would  almost  to  a  cer 
tainty  have  ended  Col.  Roosevelt's  life. 

Upon  Dr.  Janssen's  report  of  the  location  of  the 
bullet,  there  was  a  period  of  indecision,  during 
which  the  train  waited,  before  the  surgeons  con 
cluded  that  the  patient  might  be  taken  to  Chicago, 


Ex-President  Theodore  Roosevelt  S3 

despite  the  deep  nature  of  the  wound,  without  seri 
ously  impairing  his  chances. 

Arriving  at  Chicago  about  3  in  the  morning 
of  October  15,  an  ambulance  was  procured  and  the 
Colonel  taken  to  Mercy  hospital,  where  he  was  at 
tended  by  Dr.  John  B.  Murphy,  Dr.  Arthur  Dean 
Bevan  and  Dr.  S.  L.  Terrell. 

A  week  later,  during  which  the  surgeons  con 
cluded  that  the  wound  was  not  mortal,  and  having 
recovered  his  strength  somewhat,  he  was  taken 
East  to  his  home  at  Oyster  Bay. 

The  bullet  lies  where  it  imbedded  itself.  It 
has  not  been  disturbed  by  probes,  because  surgeons 
have  concluded  that  such  an  effort  would  incur 
additional  danger. 

That  the  shot  fired  by  Schrank  didn't  succeed 
in  murdering  Col.  Roosevelt  is  a  miracle  of  good 
fortune.  A  "thirty-eight"  long  Colt's  cartridge, 
fired  from  a  pistol  frame  of  "forty-four"  caliber 
design,  so  built  because  it  gives  a  heavier  drive  to 
the  projectile,  fired  at  that  close  range,  meant  al 
most  inevitable  death. 

The  aim  was  taken  at  a  lower  portion  of  Col. 
Roosevelt's  body,  but  a  bystander  struck  Schrank's 
at  the  moment  of  explosion,  and  elevated  the  direc 
tion  of  the  shot.  After  passing  through  the  Colo 
nel's  heavy  military  overcoat,  and  his  other  cloth 
ing,  it  would  have  certainly  killed  him  had  it  not 


54  The  Attempted  Assassination  of 

struck  in  its  course  practically  everything  which  he 
carried  on  his  person  which  could  impede  its  force. 

In  his  coat  pocket  he  had  fifty  pages  of  manu 
script  for  the  night's  speech,  which  had  been  dou 
bled,  causing  the  bullet  to  traverse  a  hundred  pages 
of  manuscript. 

It  had  struck  also  his  spectacle  case  on  the  outer 
concave  surface  of  the  gun  metal  material  of  which 
the  case  was  constructed.  It  had  passed  through  a 
double  fold  of  his  heavy  suspenders  before  reach 
ing  his  body. 

Had  anyone  of  those  objects  been  out  of  the 
range  of  the  bullet,  Schrank's  dastardly  purpose 
would  have  been  accomplished  beyond  any  con 
jecture. 

Just  before  he  went  to  the  operating  room  in 
the  Emergency  hospital  Col.  Roosevelt  directed  the 
following  telegram  to  Mrs.  Roosevelt  and  gave 
orders  that  if  the  telegraph  office  at  Oyster  Bay  was 
closed  the  message  should  be  taken  to  Sagamore 
Hill  by  taxicab. 

"Am  in  excellent  shape,  made  an  hour  and  half 
speech.  The  wound  is  a  trivial  one.  I  think  they 
will  find  that  it  merely  glanced  on  a  rib  and  went 
somewhere  into  a  cavity  of  the  body;  it  certainly 
did  not  touch  a  lung  and  isn't  a  particle  more 
serious  than  one  of  the  injuries  any  of  the  boys  used 
continually  to  be  having.  Am  at  the  Emergency 


Ex-President  Theodore  Roosevelt  55 

hospital  at  the  moment,  but  anticipate  going  right 
on  with  my  engagements.  My  voice  seems  to  be  in 
good  shape.  Best  love  to  Ethel. 

'THEODORE  ROOSEVELT/' 

The  first  bulletin  issued  by  surgeons  at  the 
Johnston  Emergency  hospital  was: 

"The  bleeding  was  insignificant  and  the  wound 
was  immediately  cleansed,  externally  and  dressed 
with  sterile  gauze  by  R.  G.  Sayle,  of  Milwaukee, 
consulting  surgeon  of  the  Emergency  hospital.  As 
the  bullet  passed  through  Col.  Roosevelt's  clothes, 
doubled  manuscript  and  metal  spectacle  case,  its 
force  was  much  diminished.  The  appearance  of 
the  wound  also  presented  evidence  of  a  much  bent 
bullet.  The  colonel  is  not  suffering  from  shock  and 
is  in  no  pain.  His  condition  was  so  good  that  the 
surgeons  did  not  object  to  his  continuing  his  jour 
ney  in  his  private  car  to  Chicago  where  he  will  be 
placed  under  surgical  care." 

(Signed) 

DR.  S.  L.  TERRELL. 

DR.  R.  G.  SAYLE. 
DR.  JOSEPH  COLT  BLOODGOOD, 

of  the  faculty  of  Johns-Hopkins  University. 
DR.  T.  A.  STRATTON. 


56  The  Attempted  Assassination  of 

The  following  bulletin  was  issued  just  before 
Col.  Roosevelt  was  taken  to  the  special  train  which 
carried  him  to  Chicago: 

"Col.  Roosevelt  has  a  superficial  flesh  wound 
below  the  right  breast  with  no  evidence  of  injury 
to  the  lung. 

"The  bullet  is  probably  lodged  somewhere  in 
the  chest  walls,  because  there  is  but  one  wound  and 
no  signs  of  any  injury  to  the  lung. 

"His  condition  was  so  good  that  the  surgeons 
did  not  try  to  locate  the  bullet,  nor  did  they  try  to 
probe  for  it." 

DR.  S.  L.  TERRELL. 
DR.  R.  G.  SAYLE. 


CHAPTER  IV. 
CAREFUL  OF  COLLAR  BUTTONS. 

Miss  Regine  White,  Superintendent  of  the  John 
ston  Emergency  Hospital,  cut  the  gory  shirts  from 
Colonel  Roosevelt  and,  after  he  had  been  attended 
by  surgeons,  tied  the  hospital  shirt,  with  "John 
ston  Emergency  Hospital"  emblazoned  across  the 
front,  about  him. 

Miss  White,  describing  the  ex-President's  stay 
in  the  hospital,  said: 

"Col.  Roosevelt  is  the  most  unusual  patient  who 
ever  was  ministered  to  in  the  Johnston  Emergency 
Hospital,  in  that  he  was  absolutely  calm  and  un 
perturbed,  and  influenced  every  one  about  him  to 
be  so,  although  excitement  and  unrest  were  in  the 
very  atmosphere,  and  he  was  suffering  much. 

"Col.  Roosevelt  had  not  been  in  the  hospital 
fifteen  minutes  before  every  one  he  came  in  con 
tact  with  was  willing  to  swear  allegiance  to  the 
Bull  Moose  party,  and  personal  allegiance  to,  the 
genial  Bull  Moose  himself.  He  was  so  friendly 
and  cordial,  so  natural  and  free,  so  happy  and 
genial  and  so  inclined  to  'jolly7  us  all  that  we  felt 
on  terms  of  intimate  friendship  with  him  almost 
immediately,  and  yet  through  all  this  freedom  of 
manner  he  maintained  a  dignity  that  never  for  an 


58  The  Attempted  Assassination  of 

instant  let  us  forget  we  were  in  the  presence  of  a 
great  man. 

"It  is  almost  unbelievable  that  he  could  have 
been  as  unruffled  and  apparently  unconcerned  as 
he  was  when  he  really  was  suffering,  and  when 
he  did  not  know  how  serious  the  wound  was. 

"GOD  HELP  POOR  FOOL/' 

"I  asked  the  colonel  how  he  felt  about  the 
prosecution  of  the  man  who  shot  him/'  said  Miss 
White,  "and  he  said,  'I've  not  decided  yet,  but  God 
help  the  poor  fool  under  any  circumstances!'  and 
the  tone  he  used  was  one  of  kindly  sympathy  and 
sincerity,  and  without  one  trace  of  malice  or  sar 
casm. 

"He  seemed  kindly  interested  in  everything 
that  any  one  said  to  him.  Miss  Elvine  Kucko, 
one  of  our  nurses,  shook  hands  with  him  when  he 
was  about  to  go  and  said  she  was  sorry  the  shoot 
ing  had  happened  in  our  city.  The  colonel  con 
soled  her  by  saying  it  might  have  happened  any 
where.  I  broke  in  with  a  remark  to  the  effect  that 
he  would  have  felt  even  worse  had  it  been  per 
petrated  by  a  Milwaukeean,  and  that  we  were  glad 
it  was  a  New  Yorker  who  did  the  deed. 

"  'You  cruel  little  woman!'  the  patient  ejacu 
lated,  and  I  remembered  then  that  New  York  was 
the  ex-President's  state." 

When  he  was  ready  to  go,  Miss  White  offered 


Ex-President  Theodore  Roosevelt  59 

him  a  sealed  envelope  and  told  him  his  cuff  buttons, 
shirt  studs  and  collar  buttons  were  in  it. 

"No,  you  can't  do  that  with  me,"  he  said,  "I 
want  to  see!  I  don't  intend  to  get  down  to  Chi 
cago  without  the  flat  button  for  the  back  of  my 
collar." 

Miss  White  joined  him  in  a  laugh  as  she  pull 
ed  open  the  envelope  and  counted  each  one  sep 
arately  into  his  hand.  That  flat  bone  button  that 
he  treasured  hid  itself  under  one  of  the  others  and 
he  had  to  have  a  second  count  before  he  was  satis 
fied  that  he  was  not  going  to  be  inconvenienced  by 
its  loss  when  he  should  next  care  to  wear  a  collar. 

Doctors  and  nurses  questioned  the  ex-Presi 
dent's  coat  being  warm  enough,  but  he  assured 
them  that  the  coat  was  one  he  had  worn  in  the 
Spanish-American  war,  that  it  was  of  military 
make  and  would  keep  him  warm  enough  in  a 
steam-heated  Pullman. 

When  the  bandages  were  being  strapped  on 
the  colonel's  chest  to  keep  the  dressing  in  place, 
one  of  the  doctors,  Fred  Stratton,  a  young  giant, 
didn't  put  one  fold  as  Miss  White  thought  it  ought 
to  be.  She  ordered  it  put  right,  and  the  colonel 
began  to  laugh,  which  isn't  to  be  wondered  at  when 
one  remembers  that  Miss  White  is  a  tiny,  wee  bit 
of  fluffy  humanity  who  doesn't  look  a  bit  like  what 
one  would  expect,  the  superintendent  of  a  big  hos 
pital  and  looked  a  pigmy  beside  the  big  doctor. 


o 

h 


£ 


Ex-President  Theodore  Roosevelt  61 

"That's  nothing,"  said  Dr.  R.  G.  Sayle,  "she's 
been  bossing  us  doctors  for  the  past  twenty  years!" 

"Oh,  please — not  quite  that  long—  "  began  Miss 
White. 

"Well,  we'll  knock  off  two  and  make  it  eigh 
teen,"  the  colonel  interposed. 

When  the  wound  was  dressed  doctors  and 
nurses  tried  to  persuade  the  patient  to  remain  over 
night,  but  without  success. 

"I  know  if  Mrs.  Roosevelt  were  here  she  would 
insist  upon  your  staying,"  Miss  White  said. 

"Young  woman,  if  Mrs.  Roosevelt  were  here 
I  am  certain  she  would  insist  upon  my  leaving 
immediately,"  her  husband  made  reply,  and  gazed 
at  the  four  pretty  nurses  surrounding  him. 

When  the  patient  was  brought  up  the  elevator 
and  led  into  the  "preparation"  room,  the  first  thing 
to  do  was  to  prepare  him  for  care  of  his  wound. 
Miss  White  took  his  eye  glasses.  The  Colonel  ob 
jected  and  said  he  did  not  want  those  out  of  his 
sight.  But  when  Miss  White  assured  him  she 
would  give  the  glasses  her  personal  attention  he 
seemed  content  with  the  arrangement. 

One  of  the  physicians  asked  for  a  chair  for 
Col.  Roosevelt.  Miss  White  said  the  operating 
table  was  ready,  and  the  colonel  immediately  ac 
quiesced  and  laid  down  on  the  carefully  scrubbed 
pine  slab  on  an  iron  frame,  which  has  carried  the 
weight  of  tramps,  laborers  and  other  unfortunates 


62  The  Attempted  Assassination  of 

picked  up  in  the  street,  but  never  before  that  of  an 
ex-President  of  the  United  States. 

(Miss  White  was  a  little  diffident  about  expos 
ing  the  fact  that  the  president  had  said  a  swear 
word,  but  she  finally  admitted  that  he  remarked : 

"I  don't  care  a  d — n  about  finding  the  bullet 
but  I  do  hope  they'll  fix  it  up  so  I  need  not  continue 
to  suffer." 

The  doctors  washed  the  wound  area,  painted 
it  with  iodine,  itself  a  somewhat  painful  operation, 
and  proceeded  to  the  dressing. 

One  of  the  doctors  told  Col.  Roosevelt  that 
Miss  White  was  a  suffragist,  and  that  after  his 
kind  treatment  he  ought  to  be  converted.  Miss 
White  said  the  Big  Bull  Moose  was  a  suffragist 
and  that  was  one  of  the  big  planks  of  his  party 
and  the  colonel  laughed  and  said  of  course  he  be 
lieved  in  it. 

When  the  party  left  for  Chicago  Dr.  R.  G. 
Sayle  took  with  his  antisepticized  surgeon's  gloves, 
surgical  dressing  and  instruments  to  be  used  in  case 
of  hemorrhage  before  Chicago  was  reached. 

Not  a  souvenir  of  the  ex-President's  visit  re 
mains  in  the  hospital.  His  shirt  was  turned  over 
to  the  police,  and  a  blood-soaked  handkerchief 
which  was  bound  upon  the  wound,  and  which  was 
picked  up  by  one  of  the  nurses,  was  found  to  have 
an  "S"  in  the  corner,  so  it  was  evident  that  it  either 


Ex-President  Theodore  Roosevelt  63 

did  not  belong  to  the  ex-President  or  he  had  not 
always  owned  it,  and  this  was  discarded. 

The  Mercy  Hospital  nurses  were  appreciative 
of  Col.  Roosevelt. 

"He  was  the  best  patient  I  ever  had/'  said  Miss 
Welter,  and  the  sentiment  was  endorsed  by  Miss 
Fitzgerald. 

uHe  was  consideration  itself.  He  never  had  a 
word  of  complaint  all  the  time  he  was  at  the 
hospital,  and  his  chief  worry  seemed  to  be  that 
we  were  not  comfortable.  We  had  expected  to 
find  him  'strenuous'  and  possibly  disagreeable.  On 
the  contrary,  we  found  him  most  docile.  He 
chafed  at  being  kept  in  bed,  but  he  tried  not  to 
show  it,  and  he  never  was  ill-humored  or  peevish, 
as  many  patients  in  a  similar  position  are." 


CHAPTER  V. 
ARRIVAL  AT  MERCY  HOSPITAL. 

Arriving  at  Mercy  Hospital,  Chicago,  Col. 
Roosevelt  was  given  further  examination  on  Octo 
ber  IS.  Several  bulletins  of  his  condition  were  is 
sued.  The  last  official  bulletin  given  out  by  his 
staff  physicians,  J.  B.  Murphy,  A.  D.  Bevan  and 
Scurry  L.  Terrell,  showed  a  most  favorable  con 
dition. 

Mrs.  Roosevelt  reached  Chicago  with  her  son 
Theodore  and  her  daughter  Ethel,  was  driven  di 
rectly  to  Mercy  Hospital  and  took  charge  of  her 
husband  as  soon  as  she  had  greeted  him.  She  was 
quite  composed  on  her  arrival  and  placidly  di 
rected  affairs  all  through.  As  a  result  of  her  pres 
ence,  the  colonel's  visiting  list  was  materially  cut 
down,  he  devoted  less  time  to  reading  telegrams, 
and  discussed  the  campaign  very  little. 

Part  of  the  morning  he  spent  in  reading  cable 
grams  of  sympathy  and  congratulation  on  his  es 
cape  from  Emperor  William,  King  George,  the 
President  of  France,  the  King  of  Italy,  the  King  of 
Spain,  the  President  of  Portugal  and  the  Crown 
Prince  and  Princess  of  Germany. 

Among  his  few  callers  were  Col.  Cecil  Lyon, 
Medill  McCormick,  Dr.  Alexander  Lambert,  his 
family  physician,  who  accompanied  Mrs.  Roose- 


Ex-President  Theodore  Roosevelt  65 

velt  to  Chicago,  Dr.  Evans  of  Chicago  and  Dr. 
Woods-Hutchinson,  a  writer  on  medical  topics,  a 
warm  personal  friend. 

As  soon  as  he  saw  Dr.  Lambert  the  colonel 
said: 

"Lambert,  you'd  have  let  me  finish  that  speech 
if  you'd  been  there  after  I  was  shot,  wouldn't  you?" 

"Perhaps  so,"  returned  the  doctor,  a  little 
dubiously,  "but  I  should  have  made  sure  you  were 
not  seriously  hurt  first." 

Before  Mrs.  Roosevelt  arrived  the  colonel  was 
insistent  that  he  be  allowed  to  go  to  Oyster  Bay 
shortly.  After  a  talk  with  Mrs.  Roosevelt,  he  said 
he  would  leave  that  question  to  her. 

"It  will  probably  be  ten  days  at  least  before 
we  go,"  she  said.  "It  is  too  far  distant  to  attempt 
a  prophecy." 

A  more  careful  examination  of  the  X-ray 
photographs  taken  of  the  patient  disclosed  the  fact 
that  his  fourth  rib  was  slightly  splintered  by  the 
impact  of  the  bullet  lodged  against  it.  This  ac 
counted  for  the  discomfort  that  the  colonel  suf 
fered. 

Mrs.  Roosevelt  was  insistent  on  taking  her  hus 
band  home  at  the  earliest  moment  consistent  with 
safety. 

The  colonel  passed  an  easy  day.  He  continued 
to  exhibit  the  utmost  indifference  to  the  motives  of 
Schrank,  who  sought  his  life.  "His  name  might 


66  The  Attempted  Assassination  of 

be  Czolgosz  or  anything  else  as  far  as  I  am  con 
cerned,"  he  said  to  one  of  his  visitors.  "I  never 
heard  of  him  before  and  know  nothing  about  him." 

To  another  friend  he  expressed  the  opinion 
that  the  man  was  a  maniac  afflicted  with  a  paranoia 
on  the  subject  of  the  third  term.  He  showed  no 
curiosity  about  him  and  did  not  discuss  him,  al 
though  he  talked  considerably  about  the  shooting. 

"You  know,"  he  said  to  Dr.  Murphy,  "I  have 
done  a  lot  of  hunting  and  I  know  that  a  thirty- 
eight  caliber  pistol  slug  fired  at  any  range  will  not 
kill  a  bull  moose." 

Before  he  went  to  sleep,  Col.  Roosevelt  called 
for  hot  water  and  a  mirror  and  sitting  in  bed,  care 
fully  shaved  himself.  Mrs.  Roosevelt,  tired  out 
after  her  long  journey,  also  retired  early,  at  10 
o'clock. 

The  following  bulletin,  issued  by  the  surgeons 
on  the  morning  of  October  IS,  described  the 
wound  inflicted  by  Schrank's  bullet: 

"Col.  Roosevelt's  hurt  is  a  deep  bullet  wound 
of  the  chest  wall  without  striking  any  vital  organ 
in  transit.  The  wound  was  not  probed.  The  point 
of  entrance  was  to  the  right  of  and  one  inch  below 
the  level  of  the  right  nipple.  The  range  of  the 
bullet  was  upward  and  inward,  a  distance  of  four 
inches,  deeply  in  the  chest  wall.  There  was  no 
evidence  of  the  bullet  penetrating  into  the  lung. 
Pulse,  90;  temperature,  99.2;  respiration,  20;  leu- 


Ex-President  Theodore  Roosevelt  67 

cocyte  count,  .82  at  10  a.  m.    No  operation  to  re 
move  bullet  is  indicated  at  the  present  time.    Con 
dition  hopeful,  but  wound  so  important  as  to  de 
mand  absolute  rest  for  a  number  of  days." 
(Signed) 

"DR.  JOHN  B.  MURPHY. 

"DR.  ARTHUR  B.  BEVAN. 

"DR.  SCURRY  L.  TERRELL. 

"DR.  R.  G.  SAYLE." 

The  arrival  of  Col.  Roosevelt  in  Mercy  Hos 
pital,  Chicago,  was  described  by  John  B.  Pratt,  of 
the  International  News  service,  a  correspondent 
traveling  with  the  ex-President  during  the  cam 
paign,  as  follows: 

"Any  way,  if  I  had  to  die,  I  wanted  to  die  with 
my  boots  on."  Lying  on  a  hospital  bed  completely 
filled  by  his  great  bulk,  Theodore  Roosevelt  made 
this  answer  to  a  question  by  Dr.  Terrell. 

He  had  just  talked  with  the  newspaper  men 
who  were  with  his  party  enroute.  Terrell,  coming 
in  at  the  conclusion  of  the  conversation,  expressed 
the  fear  that  the  ex-President  was  exerting  him 
self  beyond  his  strength. 

"You  do  too  much,"  said  Terrell.  "The  most 
uncomfortable  hour  I  ever  spent  in  my  life  was 
while  I  sat  on  that  platform  in  Milwaukee  won 
dering  where  that  bullet  was  and  in  how  imminent 
danger  you  were.  How  could  you  be  so  incautious 


68  The  Attempted  Assassination  of 

as  to  make  a  speech  then?  It  was  all  very  well  for 
you  to  say  the  shot  was  not  fatal  but  how  could 
you  tell?" 

The  colonel  grinned,  raised  his  arm  heavily, 
trying  not  to  show  the  pain  that  came  with  every 
movement. 

"I  did  not  think  the  wound  was  dangerous,"  he 
said.  "I  was  confident  that  it  was  not  in  a  place 
where  much  harm  could  follow  and  therefore  I 
wished  to  make  the  speech.  Anyway,  even  if  it 
went  against  me — well,  if  I  had  to  die—  '  and  the 
colonel  chuckled  grimly,  "I  thought  I'd  rather  die 
with  my  boots  on." 

The  newspaper  men  who  were  with  him  when 
out  of  the  darkness  came  the  bullet  that  still  men 
aces  his  life,  felt  that  in  that  sentence  he  had  epito 
mized  his  unfaltering  courage.  Never  once  since 
has  he  wavered  in  courage.  Physically  overcome 
he  once  sank  back,  and  came  as  near  to  fainting  as 
so  strong  a  man  can.  All  the  rest  of  the  time  he 
has  been  as  serene  as  a  man  unhurt. 

It  was  in  the  gray  of  this  morning's  daylight 
that  we  caught  our  first  glimpse  of  him  after  the 
shooting.  Standing  in  the  corridor  of  his  private 
car  as  it  lay  in  the  North-Western  station  in  Chi 
cago,  we  heard  Dr.  Terrell  say: 

"Now  is  a  chance  to  see  the  old  warrior,  he  is 
coming  out." 


Ex-President  Theodore  Roosevelt  69 

The  door  of  his  state  room  creaked  and  swung 
open  slowly.  As  it  swung  back  within  loomed  the 
figure  that  attracts  attention  everywhere.  The 
colonel  stepped  out  slowly,  his  shoulders  thrown 
back  and  his  bearing  soldierly.  He  stretched  out 
two  ringers  to  one  of  the  party. 

"Ah,  old  comrade,"  he  said,  "shake.  The  news 
paper  boys  are  my  friends,"  he  added,  as  he  pro 
ceeded  toward  the  door  of  the  car.  "I'm  glad  to 
see  them." 

"You  had  a  pretty  rough  time  last  night,  colo 
nel,"  suggested  somebody. 

"We  did  have  a  middling  lively  time,  didn't 
we?"  said  the  colonel  with  a  broad  grin. 

"Pretty  plucky  of  you,"  said  another  man. 
"Everybody  agrees  to  that." 

"Fiddlesticks,"  and  the  colonel  stepped  out  on 
the  platform  and  down  the  steps. 

He  had  indignantly  refused  a  stretcher  and 
even  balked  at  an  ambulance,  but  finally  agreed 
that  this  was  the  best  means  of  conveyance  to  the 
hospital. 

He  walked  past  a  silent  crowd,  a  crowd  that 
wanted  to  cheer,  but  did  not  dare,  but  stood,  with 
out  a  smile  as  he  went  by.  To  them  all  he  waved  a 
hand.  Just  as  he  was  leaving  the  steps  a  flashlight 
flared  forth,  the  sharp  report  of  the  powder  star 
tling  everybody. 


Capt.  A.  O.  Girard. 


Ex-President  Theodore  Roosevelt  71 

"Ah,  shot  again,"  said  the  colonel,  without  a 
tremor. 

Before  climbing  into  the  ambulance  he  turned 
to  the  newspaper  men  who  had  come  out  to  see 
him  off. 

"I  want  to  see  you  newspaper  men  at  the  hos 
pital  at  3  o'clock.  I  want  all  the  old  guard  there." 
Then  he  started  up  the  steps  of  the  automobile  con 
veyance  with  a  firm  step  and  tried  to  seat  himself 
firmly  on  the  cushion.  But  he  had  counted  on  more 
strength  than  he  possessed.  With  a  smothered  ex 
clamation  he  sank  back  among  them,  his  head 
dropping  and  his  figure  one  of  pathetic  helpless 
ness. 

At  3  o'clock  he  welcomed  the  newspaper  men 
sitting  up  in  bed  with  his  massive  chest  hidden  be 
neath  an  undershirt. 

"I  came  away  in  too  big  a  hurry  to  get  my 
pajamas,"  he  explained,  apologetically. 

"Here  they  are,  bless  their  hearts.  They  never 
desert  me,"  the  colonel  cried,  as  the  visitors  were 
ushered  in. 

His  face  had  lost  the  gray  of  the  early  morn 
ing  and  resumed  its  normal  tint.  He  never  looked 
better  and  certainly  never  looked  larger.  He  filled 
the  narrow  hospital  cot  completely,  from  side  to 
side,  and  from  end  to  end. 

Two  beautiful  rooms  had  been  secured  for  him 
at  Mercy  Hospital,  one  of  the  biggest  and  finest 


72  The  Attempted  Assassination  of 

institutions  in  the  west.  The  four  windows  of  the 
sick  room  faced  two  on  Calumet  avenue  and  two 
on  Twenty-sixth  street,  in  a  quiet  part  of  town, 
away  from  the  smoke  and  the  roar  of  the  elevated 
trains.  To  make  the  air  more  salubrious  an  oxy 
gen  apparatus  had  been  placed  in  the  room,  which 
liberated  just  enough  gas  to  make  the  air  fresh  and 
to  give  it  an  autumn  twang. 

In  response  to  a  question  as  to  how  he  felt,  he 
replied  with  a  laugh :  UI  feel  as  well  as  a  man  feels 
who  has  a  bullet  in  him." 

"But  haven't  you  any  pain?"  asked  someone. 

"Well,"  the  colonel  said,  dryly,  "A  man  with  a 
bullet  in  him  is  lucky  if  he  doesn't  experience  a  lit 
tle  pain." 

Here  Dr.  Terrell,  always  on  watch,  held  up  a 
warning  hand. 

"You  must  not  talk  much,"  he  said. 

"I'll  boss  this  job,"  said  Roosevelt.  "You  go 
away  and  let  me  do  this  thing." 

Just  then  the  door  opened  to  admit  Elbert  E. 
Martin,  the  herculean  stenographer  who  had  grab 
bed  Schrank  before  he  could  fire  a  second  shot. 

"Here  he  is,"  cried  the  colonel,  waving  his 
hand,  "here  is  the  man  that  did  it." 

Martin  had  brought  a  lot  of  telegrams.  The 
colonel,  lying  partly  propped  up  adjusted  the  great 
tortoise  shell  glasses  and  proceeded  to  look  them 
over.  With  one  of  them  he  seemed  especially 


Ex-President  Theodore  Roosevelt  73 

pleased.     It  came  from  Madison,  Wis.,  and  was 
as  follows: 

"Permit  me  to  express  my  profound  regret  that 
your  life  should  have  been  in  peril  and  to  express 
my  congratulations  upon  your  fortunate  escape 
from  serious  injury.  I  trust  that  you  will  speedily 
recover. 

(Signed) 

"ROBERT  M.  LA  FOLLETTE." 

"Let  me  see  that  again,"  he  said,  after  turning 
it  back  to  Martin.  When  he  had  read  it  a  second 
time  he  said:  "Here,  take  this,"  and  dictated: 

"Senator  Robert  M.  La  Follette — Thanks  sin 
cerely  for  your  kind  expressions  of  sympathy." 

Half  an  hour  the  colonel  spent  looking  over 
and  answering  private  telegrams,  dictating  always 
in  a  clear,  strong  voice.  When  he  had  done  he 
talked  with  the  newspaper  men  of  former  experi 
ences  of  the  kind  he  had  just  gone  through  and 
of  cranks  at  Sagamore  Hill  and  at  the  White 
House. 

"But  I  never  had  a  bullet  in  me  before,"  he 
said. 


CHAPTER  VI. 
GETS  BACK  INTO  CAMPAIGN. 

October  17,  convinced  that  he  was  beyond  all 
possible  danger,  Col.  Roosevelt  resumed  the  active 
campaign  from  his  sick  room  in  Mercy  Hospital 
by  dictating  a  statement  in  which  he  requested  his 
political  opponents  to  continue  the  fight  as  if  noth 
ing  had  happened  to  him. 

The  colonel  awoke  feeling  as  he  expressed  it, 
"like  a  bull  moose."  In  the  afternoon  he  overcame 
Mrs.  Roosevelt's  objections  to  work  long  enough 
to  send  for  Stenographer  Martin  and  dictate  the 
statement  that  put  him  back  into  politics. 

Then  he  answered  dispatches  from  President 
Taft,  Cardinal  Gibbons,  and  several  other  of  those 
who  had  sent  messages  of  sympathy. 

He  carefully  reread  the  dispatch  from  Presi 
dent  Taft  and  dictated  this  reply: 

"I  appreciate  your  sympathetic  inquiry  and 
wish  to  thank  you  for  it." 

"Sign  that  Theodore  Roosevelt,"  he  said  to 
Martin. 

To  Cardinal  Gibbons  he  sent  this: 

"I  am  deeply  touched  by  your  kind  words." 

To  Woodrow  Wilson:  "I  wish  to  thank  you 
for  your  very  warm  sympathy." 


Ex-President  Theodore  Roosevelt  75 

His  statement  dictated  to  Stenographer  Mar 
tin  asking  the  campaign  to  continue  despite 
Schrank's  shot  was  as  follows: 

"I  wish  to  express  my  cordial  agreement  with 
the  manly  and  proper  statement  of  Mr.  Bryan  at 
Franklin,  Ind.,  when  in  arguing  for  a  continuance 
of  the  discussion  of  the  issues  at  stake  in  the  con 
test  he  said: 

"  'The  issues  of  this  campaign  should  not  be 
determined  by  the  act  of  an  assassin.  Neither  Col. 
Roosevelt  nor  his  friends  should  ask  that  the  dis 
cussion  should  be  turned  away  from  the  principles 
that  are  involved.  If  he  is  elected  President  it 
should  be  because  of  what  he  has  done  in  the  past 
and  what  he  proposes  to  do  hereafter.' 

"I  wish  to  point  out,  however,  that  neither  I 
nor  my  friends  have  asked  that  the  discussion  be 
turned  away  from  the  principles  that  are  involved. 
On  the  contrary,  we  emphatically  demand  that  the 
discussion  be  carried  on  precisely  as  if  I  had  not 
been  shot.  I  shall  be  sorry  if  Mr.  Wilson  does  not 
keep  on  the  stump  and  feel  that  he  owes  it  to  him 
self  and  to  the  American  people  to  continue  on 
the  stump. 

"I  wish  to  make  one  more  comment  on  Mr. 
Bryan's  statement.  It  is  of  course  perfectly  true 
that  in  voting  for  me  or  against  me,  consideration 
must  be  paid  to  what  I  have  done  in  the  past  and 
to  what  I  propose  to  do.  But  it  seems  to  me  far 


76  The  Attempted  Assassination  of 

more  important  that  consideration  should  be  paid 
to  what  the  progressive  party  proposes  to  do. 

"I  cannot  too  strongly  emphasize  the  fact  upon 
which  we  progressives  insist  that  the  welfare  of 
any  one  man  in  this  fight  is  wholly  immaterial 
compared  to  the  greatest  fundamental  issues  in 
volved  in  the  triumph  of  the  principles  for  which 
our  cause  stands.  If  I  had  been  killed  the  fight 
would  have  gone  on  exactly  the  same.  Gov.  John 
son,  Senator  Beveridge,  Mr.  Straus,  Senator  Bris- 
tow,  Miss  Jane  Addams,  Gifford  Pinchot,  Judge 
Ben  Lindsay,  Raymond  Robbins,  Mr.  Prender- 
gast  and  the  hundreds  of  other  men  now  on  the 
stump  are  preaching  the  doctrine  that  I  have  been 
preaching  and  stand  for,  and  represent  just  the  same 
cause.  They  would  have  continued  the  fight  in  ex 
actly  the  same  way  if  I  had  been  killed,  and  they 
are  continuing  it  in  just  the  same  way  now  that  I 
am  for  the  moment  laid  up. 

"So  far  as  my  opponents  are  concerned,  what 
ever  could  with  truth  and  propriety  have  been  said 
against  me  and  my  cause  before  I  was  shot  can 
with  equal  truth  and  equal  propriety  be  said 
against  me  and  it  now  should  be  so  said,  and  the 
things  that  cannot  be  said  now,  are  merely  the 
things  that  ought  not  to  have  been  said  before.  This 
is  not  a  contest  about  any  man ;  it  is  a  contest  con 
cerning  principles. 

"If  my  broken  rib  heals  fast  enough  to  relieve 


Ex-President  Theodore  Roosevelt  77 

my  breathing  I  shall  hope  to  be  able  to  make  one 
or  two  speeches  yet  in  this  campaign ;  in  any  event, 
if  I  am  not  able  to  make  them  the  men  I  have  men 
tioned  above  and  the  hundreds  like  them  will  be 
stating  our  case  right  to  the  end  of  the  campaign 
and  I  trust  our  opponents  will  be  stating  their  case 
also. 

"THEODORE  ROOSEVELT/' 

October  19,  Gov.  Hiram  W.  Johnson,  of  Cali 
fornia,  candidate  for  Vice-President  on  the  Na 
tional  Progressive  ticket,  was  summoned  to  Mercy 
Hospital  by  Col.  Roosevelt. 

The  governor  hastened  to  the  hospital  and  con 
ferred  with  Roosevelt  for  an  hour.  The  ex-Presi 
dent  urged  upon  Johnson  that  he  return  to  Cali 
fornia  to  hold  his  office  as  governor.  Johnson  had 
two  years  to  serve  of  his  term  and  under  the  law 
he  would  forfeit  the  governorship  if  he  did  not  get 
back.  The  law  there  provides  that  no  governor 
shall  absent  himself  from  office  for  more  than  two 
months  running.  Johnson  had  been  away  all  but  a 
few  days  of  that  period. 

"Governor,  I  realize  the  sacrifice  you  have 
made  in  keeping  so  long  away  from  your  office," 
began  the  colonel,  in  serious  tone.  "I  am  told  that 
if  you  do  not  hurry  back  they  will  take  the  gov 
ernorship  away  from  you.  Now,  I  want  you  to  go 
back.  Leave  the  campaign  to  me.  I  can  handle 


78  The  Attempted  Assassination  of 

it  all  right.  Soon  I'm  going  out  on  the  stump  and 
I'll  lead  the  fight  myself." 

Gov.  Johnson  marveled  at  the  bold  idea  that 
Roosevelt,  convalescing  from  the  bullet  wound, 
would  take  command  again. 

"You  can't  do  it,  colonel,"  he  protested.  "You 
will  need  to  build  up  your  strength.  I  won't— 

"Fiddlesticks,"  interrupted  the  colonel.  "You'll 
do  what  I  say.  I  never  felt  any  stronger  in  my 
life.  It's  all  a  matter  of  being  able  to  breathe 
easier  with  this  splintered  rib.  That  won't  bother 
me  more  than  a  few  days.  Then  they  can't  hold 
me  back." 

Flatly  Gov.  Johnson  informed  Col.  Roosevelt 
that  he  wanted  to  stay  in  the  fight. 

"I'm  needed,"  he  went  on.  "I'm  going  to  let 
them  take  the  governorship.  I'll  resign." 

Leaning  out  from  the  arm  chair  in  which  he 
sat,  Roosevelt  whacked  his  right  fist  down  on  the 
table  before  him.  A  sharp  pain  went  through  the 
breast  pierced  by  the  bullet. 

"I  tell  you,  governor,  you'll  not  do  it,"  fairly 
cried  the  colonel,  so  vehemently  that  Mrs.  Roose 
velt,  in  the  next  room,  stepped  to  the  doorway. 

"You  must  be  quiet,  Theodore,"  spoke  Mrs. 
Roosevelt,  lifting  a  warning  finger. 

"Yes,  that's  right,"  agreed  the  colonel,  "but  the 
governor  here  is  recalcitrant  and  I've  got  to  speak 
roughly  to  him." 


Ex-President  Theodore  Roosevelt  79 

After  a  brisk  interchange  of  opinion  as  to  the 
feasibility  of  the  governor  giving  up  the  campaign 
the  two  violently  taking  opposite  sides,  bidding  the 
colonel  an  affectionate  good-bye,  Gov.  Johnson  left 
the  hospital.  As  he  passed  out  to  an  automobile, 
Johnson  said  he  had  promised  the  colonel  to  talk 
the  matter  over  with  other  leaders  before  deciding 
what  to  do. 

"He  insists  that  I  return  to  California  and  I 
insist  I  won't,"  explained  the  governor.  "We 
couldn't  agree." 

Later  Gov.  Johnson  conferred  at  his  hotel  with 
William  Allen  White,  Francis  J.  Heney  and  other 
Bull  Moose  leaders.  The  governor  was  obdurate 
in  his  decision  to  stick  in  the  race. 

"Col.  Roosevelt  is  in  no  shape  to  take  up  the 
responsibility,"  he  maintained.  "It  is  but  an  evi 
dence  of  his  magnanimity  that  he  urges  me  to  re 
turn  to  California.  I'd  rather  lost  the  job  than 
desert  the  colonel  now." 

Attorney  General  U.  S.  Webb  of  California  on 
October  20  issued  the  following  opinion,  however, 
which  did  away  with  possibility  of  Gov.  Johnson 
losing  his  office: 

"There  is  a  code  section  in  the  state  limiting  the 
absence  of  the  governor  and  other  officials  from 
the  state  to  sixty  days,  but  the  legislature  of  1911 
by  resolution,  removed  the  limitations  on  the  gov- 


Elbert  E.  Martin. 


Ex-President  Theodore  Roosevelt  81 

crnor  and  other  high  state  officials.  In  addition  to 
that  the  constitution  of  the  United  States  specifical 
ly  provides  the  conditions  under  which  a  state  of 
ficial  may  be  removed,  and  it  does  not  include  this 
particular  condition.  There  is  no  reason  why  Gov. 
Johnson  cannot  remain  outside  the  state  as  long  as 
he  sees  fit  and  there  is  nothing  the  legislature  can 
do  to  remove  him  for  remaining  away  more  than 
sixty  days." 


CHAPTER  VII. 
BACK  AT  SAGAMORE  HILL. 

The  trip  of  ex-President  Roosevelt  from 
Mercy  Hospital,  Chicago,  to  his  home  at  Oyster 
Bay,  beginning  the  morning  of  October  21  over 
the  Pennsylvania  road  is  described  here  by  one  of 
the  correspondents  who  traveled  with  him.  Under 
date  of  October  21,  he  wrote  at  Pittsburg,  Pa.: 

"On  a  mellow  autumn  day  whose  warmth 
seemed  to  breathe  a  tender  sympathy,  Col.  Roose 
velt  traveled  from  Chicago  today  on  his  way  to 
Oyster  Bay  on  the  most  extraordinary  trip  ever  un 
dertaken  by  a  candidate  for  the  presidency. 

"Unable  because  of  sheer  weakness  to  show 
himself  on  the  platform  of  his  private  car,  the 
stricken  Bull  Moose  leader,  with  blinds  drawn  in 
his  stateroom,  listened  with  throbbing  heart  to  the 
soft  murmuring  of  eager  throngs  as  they  clustered 
at  the  stations  along  the  way.  As  the  train  rolled 
into  Pittsburg  tonight  the  colonel,  shaken  up  by 
the  jostling  of  the  train,  meekly  confessed  to  Dr. 
Alexander  Lambert,  his  New  York  physician,  who 
with  Dr.  Scurry  Terrell,  are  making  the  trip  with 
him,  that  he  was  'tired  out.' 

"  Tm  going  to  put  in  a  sound  night  of  sleep,' 
he  sighed,  Til  be  all  right  again  in  the  morning.' 


Ex-President  Theodore  Roosevelt  83 

"The  bullet  nestling  in  the  colonel's  chest  and 
the  splintered  rib  gave  him  more  discomfort  than 
the  wounded  leader  had  counted  on.  As  the  train 
jolted  at  times  the  ex-President  experienced  pierc 
ing  pain.  But  he  bore  it  without  a  whimper. 

"When  night  came  the  physicians  agreed  that 
although  the  tumbling  of  the  train  had  caused  the 
colonel  more  worry  than  he  would  admit,  he  would 
suffer  no  ill  effects. 

"The  ex-President's  leisurely  jaunt  through 
Ohio,  for  he  is  running  upon  a  twenty-four  hour 
train,  was  in  truth  an  occasion  of  tragic  quiet.  The 
waiting  throngs  which  half  anticipated  that  they 
wrould  see  the  plucky  third  party  fighter  walk  out 
onto  platform  of  his  car,  stood  in  a  respectful  atti 
tude  as  they  learned  that  the  colonel  was  unable  to 
see  them. 

"Almost  the  whole  day  the  ex-President  lay  on 
a  soft  bed  in  his  state  room,  reading,  or  when  that 
grew  irksome,  dropping  into  restful  slumber.  Out 
side  of  his  family,  his  stenographer,  John  Martin 
and  the  latter's  wife,  who  boarded  the  train  at 
Lima,  the  colonel  saw  no  one.  He  asked  for  quiet, 
feeling  himself  that  he  needed  to  conserve  all  the 
strength  at  his  command  for  the  long  run  to  Oyster 
Bay. 

"The  ex-President  started  his  jaunt  homeward 
by  fooling  the  newspaper  men  in  Chicago.  At 
Mercy  Hospital  the  tip  was  allowed  to  filter  out 


84  The  Attempted  Assassination  of 

that  the  colonel  would  climb  into  an  automobile  at 
the  front  entrance.  Camera  men  adjusted  their 
machines  and  a  flock  of  newspaper  men  waited. 

ulnstead,  the  ex-President  was  wheeled  to  a 
side  door  to  an  automobile  ambulance,  into  which 
he  pulled  himself. 

"  'I  fooled  them  that  time,'  chuckled  the  colo 
nel  to  Dr.  Lambert,  who  climbed  in  after  him. 

"While  the  colonel  was  driven  to  the  train, 
Mrs.  Roosevelt,  Miss  Ethel  and  Theodore,  Jr., 
took  an  automobile.  So  as  to  avoid  the  crowd  at 
the  Pennsylvania  depot,  the  ambulance  was  taken 
to  the  train  by  way  of  a  yard,  the  colonel's  private 
car  being  drawn  up  for  it.  Only  a  few  yardmen 
were  there  to  salute  the  colonel  as  he  stepped  from 
the  ambulance.  They  raised  their  hats  and  one  of 
them  cried: 

"  'Colonel,  good  luck  to  you!'  Roosevelt  lifted 
his  right  hand  to  his  hat  and  gave  a  military 
salute." 

Concerning  the  ex-President's  appearance  in 
Madison  Square  Garden,  New  York,  on  the  night 
of  October  30,  a  press  dispatch  said: 

"Bearing  no  outward  sign  of  the  bullet  in  his 
breast,  Theodore  Roosevelt  tonight  hurled  himself 
back  into  the  campaign  at  Madison  Square  Gar 
den.  He  spoke  for  forty  minutes  to  the  biggest 
meeting  he  has  ever  addressed  in  New  York  and 


Ex-President  Theodore  Roosevelt  85 

to  one  of  the  greatest  gatherings  ever  seen  in  that 
historic  auditorium. 

"More  than  15,000  men  and  women  welcomed 
him.  Another  vast  crowd  waited  all  evening  out 
side  in  the  hope  that  they  might  catch  a  word  or 
two  from  the  colonel  as  he  departed.  They  were 
disappointed,  for  his  physicians,  fearing  too  great 
a  tax  on  his  strength,  refused  to  permit  him  to  make 
more  than  one  address. 

"The  crowd  inside  cheered  for  forty  minutes 
when  Roosevelt,  at  twenty  minutes  past  9  o'clock 
led  his  guards  into  the  garden,  climbed  the  steps 
to  the  speaker's  gallery  and  stood  before  them. 
Bandannas  and  American  flags  waved  like  a  mov 
ing  forest,  the  shouts  of  the  crowd  and  the  drum 
ming  of  thousands  of  heels  on  the  floor  drowned 
the  band  and  every  air  that  has  been  sung  in  the 
campaign  from  'Everybody's  Doin'  It'  to  'Onward, 
Christian  Soldiers,'  boomed  forth  when  the  en 
thusiasts,  wearied  of  plain  cheering,  of  mooing 
like  the  moose,  or  of  yelling:  'We  want  Teddy! 
We  want  Teddy !' 

"The  great  hall  whose  galleries  and  arched 
ceiling  were  completely  hidden  with  bunting  and 
huge  flags,  made  a  marvelous  picture  as  the 
colonel,  leaning  over  the  speaker's  rail,  his  teeth 
snapping  like  a  bulldog's,  raised  his  left  hand  in 
first  greeting. 


86  The  Attempted  Assassination  of 

"For  three-quarters  of  an  hour  he  stood  there. 
Now  and  then  recognizing  a  friend  he  would  make 
a  dash  to  the  other  end  of  the  stand,  a  distance  of 
twenty  feet  and  wave  his  hand — always  his  left — in 
greeting. 

"As  he  faced  first  to  the  left,  then  to  the  right, 
he  awakened  successive  outbursts  of  cheers,  and 
bandannas  and  flags  were  set  in  motion  by  sections, 
till  red  flushes  ran  over  the  crowd  like  waves. 

"The  colonel's  speech  was  pitched  in  a  solemn 
and  impressive  key.  He  made  no  direct  allusion 
to  the  attack  upon  him.  He  made  no  attack  upon 
any  individual  among  his  political  foes.  He 
named  no  names  save  those  of  Washington, 
Lincoln,  Jefferson  and  Jackson. 

"Deliberately  avoiding  the  line  of  advance, 
which  was  punctuated  with  applause,  he  appealed 
for  the  votes  of  his  auditors  for  the  progressive 
cause,  making  no  reference  to  himself  and  none 
to  his  achievements. 

"With  cheeks  thinner  than  they  were  before 
the  attack  upon  him,  but  with  a  brilliant  color, 
with  figure  sturdy  and  erect,  and  with  a  voice  that 
reached  to  every  part  of  the  hall,  and  never  once 
cracked  into  the  falsetto  squeak  that  often  charac 
terizes  it,  the  colonel  seemed  the  picture  of  health. 
Not  at  all  while  he  was  speaking  did  he  smile. 
All  his  gestures,  save  one  or  two  were  made  with 


Ex-President  Theodore  Roosevelt  87 

his  left  hand  which,  being  farthest  removed  from 
the  bullet  wound,  could  be  moved  with  impunity. 

"Once  or  twice  toward  the  end  he  brought  his 
right  hand  down  with  a  resounding  slap  on  the 
rail  of  the  speaker's  stand,  but  his  face  gave  no 
indication  that  the  gesture  caused  him  pain.  The 
flashlights  which  were  set  off  at  intervals  during 
the  address  he  faced  without  wincing. 

"Col.  Roosevelt  was  preceded  by  Senator 
Dixon,  who  presided,  by  Oscar  Straus,  candidate 
for  governor  in  New  York,  and  by  Governor 
Johnson  of  California." 

"Col.  Roosevelt's  physicians  went  into  his  state 
room  to  see  him  soon  after  the  train  left  Engle- 
wood.  They  found  him  contentedly  reading: 

"  'Col.  Roosevelt  is  resting  well  and  is  very 
comfortable.' 

"So  well,  indeed,  was  the  ex-President  that  the 
doctor  said  he  did  not  bother  to  take  his  pulse  and 
temperature." 

Col.  Roosevelt  arrived  at  Sagamore  Hill  at  10 
o'clock  in  the  morning  of  October  22. 

When  the  ex-President's  physicians  left  him  at 
dusk  they  gave  out  this  bulletin,  impressing  their 
insistence  that  Roosevelt  devote  himself  to  solid 
rest: 

"Col.  Roosevelt  has  stood  the  journey  well,  but, 
of  course,  is  tired.  The  wound  is  still  open  and 


88  The  Attempted  Assassination  of 

oozing.  Rest  and  quiet  are  essential  to  him  to 
avoid  possibilities  of  wound  infection.  He  will 
be  able  to  see  no  one  tonight.  While  Col.  Roose 
velt  is  extremely  anxious  to  take  up  the  wrork  of 
the  campaign  we  are  not  willing  to  say  at  this  time 
that  that  will  be  possible. 

"Jos.  A.  BLAKE. 
"GEORGE  E.  BREWER. 
"ALEXANDER  S.  LAMBERT. 
"SCURRY  L.  TERRELL/' 

The  colonel  was  brought  to  Sagamore  Hill  in 
an  auto  from  Syasset,  L.  I.,  without  going  to 
Oyster  Bay,  in  order  to  avoid  any  crowd. 

Flowers  sent  to  Sagamore  Hill  by  the  school 
children  of  Nassau  county  were  the  only  tokens  of 
public  welcome  for  the  homecoming. 

When  he  arrived  at  Sagamore  Hill  the  colonel's 
wound  was  dressed  and  he  went  to  bed  at  once,  with 
instructions  to  remain  quiet  all  day.  The  physi 
cians  said  the  wound  showed  no  ill  effects  from 
the  trip. 

Col.  Roosevelt  and  his  secretaries  were  busy 
on  the  train  until  late  in  the  night  of  October  21, 
looking  for  an  old  speech  of  the  colonel's  on  the 
trusts.  This  speech  had  been  the  basis  of  recent 
criticism  by  William  J.  Bryan,  and  after  a  secre- 


Ex-President  Theodore  Roosevelt  89 

tary  had  unearthed  it  and  Col.  Roosevelt  had  gone 
over  it  he  said  he  intended  to  reply  to  Mr.  Byran's 
criticism  either  in  a  statement  or  in  a  speech. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 
ARREST,  APPEARS  IN  COURT. 

Within  five  minutes  after  he  had  fired  the  bul 
let  into  ex-President  Roosevelt's  right  side,  John 
Flammang  Schrank  was  on  his  way  in  the  auto 
police  patrol  to  the  central  police  station,  Mil 
waukee. 

Those  who  overpowered  Schrank  were  Elbert 
E.  Martin,  Capt.  A.  O.  Girard,  Col.  Cecil  Lyon  of 
Texas,  Sergeant  Albert  Murray  of  the  Milwaukee 
police  department  and  Detectives  Harry  Ridenour, 
Louis  Hartman  and  Valentine  Skierawski  of  the 
Milwaukee  police  department. 

The  thousands  who  were  in  the  vicinity  of  the 
shooting  clamored  for  Schrank's  life. 

Capt.  Girard  and  Sergeant  Murray  fought  off 
the  crowd  and  literally  dragged  Schrank  into  the 
Hotel  Gilpatrick  through  the  main  entrance, 
through  the  lobby  and  into  the  hotel  kitchen. 

Here  Schrank  was  left  in  charge  of  Capt. 
Girard  and  Herman  Rollfink  while  Sergeant  Mur 
ray  telephoned  the  central  police  station  for  the 
auto  patrol.  Upon  its  arrival  Schrank  was  hustled 
into  it  and  taken  to  the  central  station. 

Schrank  having  disappeared,  the  crowd  about 
the  hotel  hurried  to  the  Auditorium.  This  vast 


92  The  Attempted  Assassination  of 

building  was  filled  to  capacity,  9,000,  and  at  least 
15,000  were  outside  unable  to  even  get  to  the  doors, 
which  had  been  closed  and  locked  by  attendants 
at  8  o'clock. 

When  Schrank  was  first  questioned  at  the  cen 
tral  station  he  declined  to  give  his  name.  Within 
a  short  time,  however,  under  supervision  of  Chief 
John  T.  Janssen,  he  submitted  to  an  examination, 
which  appears  in  full  in  another  chapter. 

Schrank  necessarily  was  roughly  handled  im 
mediately  after  firing  the  shot.  He  clung  to  the 
revolver  until  it  was  wrenched  from  him,  and  at 
one  time  he  was  beneath  a  pile  of  struggling  men  in 
the  street  car  tracks  immediately  in  front  of  Hotel 
Gilpatrick. 

One  of  the  detectives,  in  his  efforts  to  get  hold 
of  Schrank,  was  carried  down  with  Schrank  be 
neath  this  struggling  mass  of  men. 

When  Schrank  arrived  at  the  central  station  he 
was  little  the  worse  for  his  rough  handling,  except 
that  his  clothing  was  badly  soiled,  his  collar  torn 
off  and  his  hair  disheveled.  He  looked  as  though 
he  were  glad  he  had  been  rescued  from  the  crowd 
crying  for  his  life. 

Searched  at  the  central  station  the  following 
letter  was  found  in  a  coat  pocket: 

"To  the  People  of  the  United  States: 

"September  IS,  1901—1:30  A.  M. 


Ex-President  Theodore  Roosevelt  93 

"In  a  dream  I  saw  President  McKinley  sit  up 
in  his  coffin  pointing  at  a  man  in  a  monk's  attire  in 
whom  I  recognized  Theodore  Roosevelt.  The 
dead  president  said — This  is  my  murderer — avenge 
my  death. 

"September  14,  1912—1 :30  A.  M. 

"While  writing  a  poem  some  one  tapped  me  on 
the  shoulder  and  said — let  not  a  murderer  take  the 
presidential  chair,  avenge  my  death.  I  could  clear 
ly  see  Mr.  McKinley's  features.  Before  the  Al 
mighty  God,  I  swear  that  the  above  written  is  noth 
ing  but  the  truth. 

"So  long  as  Japan  could  rise  to  be  one  of  the 
greatest  powers  of  the  world  despite  her  surviving 
a  tradition  more  than  2,000  years  old,  as  Gen.  Nogi 
demonstrated,  it  is  the  duty  of  the  United  States  of 
America  to  see  that  the  third  termer  be  regarded 
as  a  traitor  to  the  American  cause.  Let  it  be  the 
right  and  duty  of  every  citizen  to  forcibly  remove 
a  third  termer. 

"Never  let  a  third  term  party  emblem  appear 
on  an  official  ballot.  I  am  willing  to  die  for  my 
country.  God  has  called  me  to  be  his  instrument, 
so  help  me  God. 

"INNOCENT— GUILTY/' 

On  a  sheet  of  paper  taken  from  the  man  when 
he  was  searched  at  the  central  station,  the  police 


94  The  Attempted  Assassination  of 

found  a  list  of  nine  hotels  where  he  is  supposed  to 
have  stopped  recently. 

The  following  is  the  list:  Mosely  hotel, 
Charleston,  S.  C.;  Planters  hotel,  Augusta,  Ga. ; 
Childs'  hotel,  Atlanta,  Ga.;  Plaza  hotel,  Birming 
ham,  Ala.;  Redmon  hotel,  Chattanooga,  Tenn. ; 
Third  Avenue  hotel,  Rome,  Tenn. ;  Bismark  hotel, 
Nashville,  Tenn.;  Station  hotel,  Evansville,  Ind., 
and  the  Normandy  hotel,  Louisville,  Ky. 

At  10:35  o'clock  on  the  morning  of  October 
15  Schrank  was  taken  to  District  court  before 
Judge  N.  B.  Neelen.  He  admitted  that  he  had 
fired  the  bullet  which  hit  ex-President  Roosevelt, 
and  he  was  bound  over  to  the  December  term  of 
Municipal  court,  with  bail  fixed  at  $7,500.  Bail 
was  later  raised  to  $15,000. 

Before  Schrank  appeared  in  court  District  At 
torney  Winifred  C.  Zabel  said: 

"So  far  as  I  have  been  able  to  determine  from 
several  examinations,  John  Schrank  is  legally 
sane,"  declared  District  Attorney  W.  C.  Zabel,  in 
discussing  Theodore  Roosevelt's  would-be  assas 
sin,  yesterday. 

"He  has  a  perfect  knowledge  of  right  and 
wrong  and  realizes  that  the  act  he  committed  was 
against  the  law.  Medically  he  may  have  a  slight 
aberration,  but  only  experts  could  determine  that. 


Ex-President  Theodore  Roosevelt  95 

"Schrank  will  have  as  fair  a  trial  under  the  law 
as  any  other  man.  He  has  been  given  ample  time 
in  which  to  prepare  his  case,  and,  if  he  does  not 
engage  an  attorney  himself,  one  will  be  appointed 
to  defend  him." 

Schrank  expressed  no  desire  to  be  tried  in  a 
hurry.  The  revolver  from  which  the  shot  had  been 
fired,  together  with  the  shirt  and  underwear  worn 
by  Col.  Roosevelt  were  brought  into  court  and  ex 
hibited  by  Detective  Louis  Hartman. 

At  the  suggestion  of  others,  Judge  Neelen  or 
dered  the  revolver  and  bullets  taken  to  Dean  R.  E. 
W.  Sommers,  Marquette  university,  for  chemical 
analysis  to  determine  whether  the  bullets  were 
poisoned. 

Schrank  seemed  unconcerned  over  the  crime 
he  had  committed. 

"You  are  charged  with  assault  with  intent  to 
kill  and  murder,"  said  District  Attorney  Zabel. 
"What  do  you  plead,  guilty  or  not  guilty?" 

"I  am  guilty,"  answered  Schrank  quietly. 

The  court  then  explained  to  Schrank  that  he 
was  charged  with  a  serious  offense,  and  had  the 
right  to  ask  for  an  adjournment  and  time  in  which 
to  obtain  legal  counsel  and  prepare  a  defense. 

"I  understand  that,"  said  Schrank.  "I  plead 
guilty  and  waive  examination." 


96  The  Attempted  Assassination  of 

"Then  you  are  bound  over  to  the  municipal 
court  under  bonds  of  $5,000,"  said  the  court. 
Schrank  was  then  asked  if  he  wanted  a  speedy  trial. 

"No,  I  don't  want  one  at  once/'  was  the  reply. 
"I  wish  to  have  some  time." 

"We  will  give  you  plenty  of  time.  You  will  be 
tried  during  the  December  term  of  the  Municipal 


court." 


As  Schrank  was  being  led  back  to  the  prisoners' 
"pen,"  one  of  the  newspaper  men  standing,  remem 
bering  that  President  McKinley  died  because  of  a 
poisoned  bullet,  reminded  the  court  that  it  might 
be  well  to  have  the  bullets  in  Schrank's  revolver 
chemically  analyzed. 

"Oh,  if  that's  the  case,  it  makes  it  much  more 
serious,"  said  the  court.  "Infection  might  set  in. 
I'll  raise  the  bail  from  $5,000  to  $7,500." 

A  crowd  of  not  more  than  200  was  seated  in  the 
courtroom  when  Schrank's  case  was  called,  the  gen 
eral  impression  being  that  he  would  not  be  exam 
ined  before  October  16.  When  his  name  was  called 
every  one  in  the  room  pushed  forward,  and  it  was 
necessary  for  the  deputies  and  policemen  to  use 
force  to  push  them  back  of  the  railing. 

When  in  the  "bullpen"  Schrank's  fellow  pris 
oners  shrank  away  from  him.  They  knew  of  his  at 
tempt  to  assassinate  the  former  president,  and  he 
was  an  outcast,  even  among  his  own  kind. 


Ex-President  Theodore  Roosevelt  97 

He  was  led  from  the  courtroom  by  Sheriff  Ar 
nold  and  a  special  corps  of  deputies,  the  officials 
fearing  violence,  to  the  county  jail,  where  he  was 
lodged  in  a  cell  on  the  first  floor. 

Schrank  on  his  arrival  in  Milwaukee  registered 
at  the  Argyle  hotel,  270  West  Water  street,  and  was 
assigned  to  room  number  1.  He  paid  for  his  room 
in  advance  and  was  very  seldom  seen  at  the  hotel 
thereafter. 

His  meals,  according  to  the  clerk,  he  took  out 
side.  The  clerk  said  the  only  time  the  man  was 
seen  about  the  hotel  was  when  he  walked  in  and 
out. 

He  was  registered  under  the  name  of  "Albert 
Ross,"  which  name  he  has  registered  under  in  a 
number  of  hotels  at  which  he  stopped  while  follow 
ing  Col.  Roosevelt  about  the  country. 

Without  a  tremor  in  his  voice  and  talking  will 
ingly  in  the  central  station,  Schrank  unfolded  the 
fact  that  he  had  at  one  time  been  engaged  to  be 
married  to  Miss  Elsie  Ziegler,  New  York,  one  of 
the  victims  of  the  General  Slocum  steamboat  dis 
aster,  in  which  over  a  thousand  lives  were  lost. 

As  he  spoke  of  the  girl  his  voice  softened  and 
his  eyes  sought  the  floor  of  his  cell.  His  lips  seemed 
to  quiver  slightly,  the  first  evidence  of  remorse 
since  his  arrest. 


98  The  Attempted  Assassination  of 

Asked  if  the  fact  that  the  girl  had  lost  her  life 
during  the  disaster  had  anything  to  do  with  the  act 
he  clenched  his  hands  and  with  an  angry  jerk  of  his 
head  almost  shouted  his  answer  to  the  questioner. 

"She  had  nothing  to  do  with  it,"  he  exclaimed. 
"She  was  a  beautiful  girl  and  I  want  you  to  under 
stand  that  her  soul  is  cleared  from  any  part  of  this 


act." 


The  five  sets  of  finger  prints  were  taken  by  the 
police  at  the  request  of  police  departments  of  other 
cities. 

The  warrant  under  which  Schrank  was  arrested 
read  as  follows : 

"John  Schrank,  being  then  and  there  armed 
with  a  dangerous  weapon,  to-wit,  a  loaded  revolver, 
did  then  and  there,  unlawfully,  wilfully  and  felo 
niously  make  an  assault  in  and  upon  one,  Theodore 
Roosevelt,  with  said  loaded  revolver,  with  intent, 
then  and  there,  him,  the  said  Theodore  Roosevelt, 
unlawfully,  willingly  and  feloniously  and  of  his 
malice  aforethought  to  kill  and  murder." 

The  crime  with  which  Schrank  still  is  charged 
reads  as  follows : 

"Assault  with  intent  to  murder  or  rob.  Section 
4376.  Any  person  being  armed  with  a  dangerous 
weapon  who  shall  assault  another  with  intent  to  rob 
or  murder  shall  be  punished  by  imprisonment  in 
the  state  prison  not  more  than  fifteen  years  nor  less 
than  one  year." 


CHAPTER  IX. 
APPEARS  IN  MUNICIPAL  COURT. 

November  13  Schrank  appeared  in  Municipal 
court  before  Judge  August  C.  Backus.  Two  ses 
sions  of  court,  lasting  only  a  few  minutes  each,  were 
necessary  to  dispose  of  Schrank's  preliminary  hear 
ing.  At  10  o'clock  the  court  heard  Schrank's  plea 
of  guilty,  and  took  recess  until  2  o'clock,  when  the 
following  physicians  were  appointed  to  look  into 
the  prisoner's  mental  condition:  Drs.  F.  C.  Stud- 
ley,  Dr.  W.  F.  Becker,  Dr.  Richard  Dewey,  Dr. 
W.  F.  Wegge,  and  Dr.  D.  W.  Harrington,  all  of 
Milwaukee. 

The  court  also  appointed  Attorney  James  G. 
Flanders  to  represent  Schrank. 

At  both  sessions  of  the  court,  Schrank  appeared 
perfectly  at  ease,  walking  inside  the  bar  with  a 
jaunty  air,  chin  up  and  a  curious  look  on  his  face. 
His  appearance  had  changed  considerably  since 
the  night  he  shot  the  ex-President.  Then  his  cloth 
ing  was  torn  and  bedraggled,  his  gair  unkempt, 
face  unshaven  and  his  expression  wild. 

In  Municipal  court  he  was  neatly  dressed  in  a 
carefully  pressed  suit  of  blue  serge,  shoes  shined, 
clean  linen  and  spotless  white  tie,  with  a  white 
handkerchief  peeping  out  of  a  side  coat  pocket. 


Johnston   Emergency  Hospital,   Milwaukee. 


Ex-President  Theodore  Roosevelt          101 

He  had  been  cleanly  shaven  and  his  hair  was  care 
fully  pasted  down,  while  in  his  hands  he  carried  a 
new  fedora  hat  and  a  raincoat. 

As  he  was  led  to  the  front  of  the  courtroom  by 
Deputy  Sheriff  Albert  Melms,  everyone  in  the 
crowd  stared  at  him,  but  the  prisoner  walked  with 
a  firm  step,  and  looked  neither  to  the  right  nor  left. 
It  was  only  when  he  was  called  before  the  bar  and 
asked  to  plead,  that  he  wavered,  and  then  only  for 
an  instant.  Judge  Backus  ordered  him  to  stand  and 
listen  to  the  charge  made  against  him,  reciting  that 
"John  Schrank,  on  Oct.  14,  with  malice  afore 
thought,  did  attempt  to  kill  and  murder  Theodore 
Roosevelt." 

"What  do  you  plead  to  that,  guilty  or  not  guil 
ty?"  asked  District  Attorney  W.  C.  Zabel. 

"I  plead  guilty  to  the  shooting/'  answered  the 
prisoner  in  a  voice  that  was  slightly  husky. 

"Did  you  intend  to  kill  Theodore  Roosevelt?" 
asked  Mr.  Zabel. 

Here  the  prisoner's  voice  became  steady  again, 
and  he  answered: 

"I  did  not  intend  to  kill  the  citizen  Roosevelt." 

"Did  you  intend  to  kill  the  candidate  Roose 
velt?" 

"I  intended  to  kill  Theodore  Roosevelt,  the 
third  termer,"  was  the  answer.  "I  did  not  want  to 


102  The  Attempted  Assassination  of 

kill  the  candidate  of  the  Progressive  party.    I  shot 
Roosevelt  as  a  warning  to  other  third  termers." 

"There  we  have  it,"  broke  in  the  court,  and 
Schrank  was  told  that  he  might  take  his  seat. 

District  Attorney  Zabel  moved  that  the  court 
either  appoint  a  commission  of  alienists  to  examine 
Schrank  or  have  him  tried  before  a  jury.  Judge 
Backus  announced  that  he  would  appoint  a  com 
mission  of  five  experts  at  2  o'clock,  and  took  a 
recess,  ordering  the  deputies  to  take  Schrank  back 
to  the  county  jail.  As  the  prisoner  arose  to  leave 
many  of  those  in  the  courtroom  rushed  for  the  door, 
but  all  fell  back  when  the  court  said: 

"Let  no  man  leave  the  courtroom  until  the  pris 
oner  has  left  the  city  hall." 

At  the  afternoon  session  Schrank  was  simply 
brought  in  and  allowed  to  sit  at  one  of  the  tables. 
When  the  physicians  who  are  to  examine  him  arose 
to  be  sworn,  he  eyed  them  curiously,  but  evinced 
no  outward  signs  of  emotion. 

The  court  allowed  the  alienists  as  much  time  as 
they  desired  to  make  the  examination  of  the  pris 
oner,  and  ordered  the  sheriff  to  allow  them  to  see 
Schrank  whenever  they  wished.  The  prisoner  also 
was  given  an  opportunity  to  confer  with  his  at 
torney. 


Ex-President  Theodore  Roosevelt          103 

The  decision  which  the  alienists  were  to  reach, 
as  ordered  by  the  court,  was  whether  "the  defend 
ant,  John  Schrank,  is  sane  at  the  present  time." 

District  Attorney  Zabel  announced  that  the  fol 
lowing  had  been  subpoenaed  as  witnesses :  Detec 
tives  Louis  Hartman,  and  Valentine  Skierawski; 
Dr.  Robert  G.  Sayle  and  Dr.  T.  W.  Williams, 
Emergency  hospital,  who  attended  Col.  Roosevelt; 
Capt.  A.  O.  Girard  and  John  Campbell,  Rescue 
Mission,  an  eyewitness. 

Mr.  Zabel  received  several  letters  and  tele 
grams  from  New  York  asking  for  leniency,  and 
commending  Schrank's  action. 

Several  were  sent  with  the  request  that  they  be 
handed  to  the  attorney  who  would  defend  the 
prisoner. 

People  all  over  the  country  sent  letters  to  Dis 
trict  Attorney  W.  C.  Zabel  advising  him  how  to 
handle  Schrank. 

"Think  of  all  the  brains  that  are  uniting  with 
mine  in  trying  to  determine  how  to  handle  this 
case,"  said  Mr.  Zabel,  with  a  laugh.  "And  the 
best  part  of  it  is  that  it's  not  costing  the  city  or 
county  a  cent  either.  How  do  you  like  this  one," 
handing  over  a  letter  which  said: 

"For  God's  sake,  don't  let  any  Catholic  priest 
get  near  him." 


104  The  Attempted  Assassination  of 

Another  said:  "Hang  him  up  by  the  thumbs. 
No  punishment  is  too  horrible  for  such  a  man." 

A  third  man  looked  with  suspicion  upon  the 
Socialist  district  attorney,  and  believed  that  he  read 
something  wrong  in  the  statement  that  Schrank 
would  not  be  placed  on  trial  immediately. 

"Probably  Schrank  is  not  so  crazy  after  all," 
this  man  wrote."  And  then  he  insinuated  that 
Schrank  very  carefully  planned  to  commit  the  deed 
in  a  state  where  there  is  no  capital  punishment  and 
in  a  county — the  only  one  in  the  country — in  which 
"there  is  a  Socialist  district  attorney." 

Still  another  advised  the  district  attorney  to 
look  into  the  minutest  details,  as  he  saw  some  big 
rich  and  powerful  influence  back  of  Schrank  which 
had  urged  him  on  to  the  crime. 

"These  are  only  a  few  of  the  letters  I  received 
from  men  who  are  probably  in  as  bad  a  mental 
state  as  they  seem  to  think  Schrank  is,"  said  the  dis 
trict  attorney. 


CHAPTER  X. 
SCHRANK  DECLARED  INSANE. 

On  November  22  Schrank  was  declared  insane 
by  the  five  alienists  who  had  examined  him.  He 
appeared  in  Municipal  court  and  was  committed 
to  the  Northern  Hospital  for  the  Insane  at  Osh- 
kosh,  Wis.,  by  Judge  August  C.  Backus  in  the  fol 
lowing  order: 

"FINDINGS  OF  THE  COURT: 

"The  court  now  finds  that  the  defendant  John 
Schrank  is  insane,  and  therefore  incapacitated  to 
act  for  himself. 

"IT  is  THEREFORE  ORDERED  AND  ADJUDGED, 
that  the  defendant  John  Schrank  be  committed  to 
the  Northern  Hospital  for  Insane,  near  Oshkosh, 
in  the  county  of  Winnebago,  state  of  Wisconsin, 
until  such  time  when  he  shall  have  recovered  from 
such  insanity,  when  he  shall  be  returned  to  this 
court  for  further  proceedings  according  to  law. 

"AND  IT  is  FURTHER  ORDERED,  that  all  proceed 
ings  in  this  case  be  stayed  indefinitely  and  until 
such  recovery. 

"IT  is  FURTHER  ORDERED,  that  the  sheriff  of 
Milwaukee  county  is  hereby  ordered  to  convey  the 
said  John  Schrank  to  the  said  Northern  Hospital 


106  The  Attempted  Assassination  of 

for  Insane,  near  Oshkosh,  in  the  county  of  Winne- 
bago,  state  of  Wisconsin,  and  there  to  deliver  him 
to  the  superintendent  thereof  and  the  said  super 
intendent  is  hereby  ordered  and  directed  to  receive 
the  said  John  Schrank  as  an  inmate  of  said  hospital 
and  there  to  keep  him  until  he  has  recovered  from 
such  insanity,  when  he  shall  be  returned  to  this 
court  for  further  proceedings  as  provided  by  law." 

Schrank  expressed  the  keenest  disappointment 
both  on  the  report  of  the  insanity  commission  and 
also  on  the  judgment  of  the  court. 

"Why  didn't  they  give  me  my  medicine  right 
away,  instead  of  making  me  wait/'  he  exclaimed 
bitterly  as  he  was  led  to  the  county  jail.  "I  did  it, 
and  I  am  willing  to  stand  the  consequences  of  my 
act. 

"I  want  to  say  now  that  I  am  sane,  and  know 
what  I  am  doing  all  the  time.  I  am  not  a  lunatic, 
and  never  was  one." 

Schrank  offered  no  defense.  Before  the  judg 
ment  of  the  court  was  pronounced  he  was  asked  if 
he  had  any  statement  to  make. 

"I  have  nothing  to  say,"  he  said  clearly. 

While  Judge  Backus  was  reading  the  judgment, 
Schrank  sat  with  bowed  head.  His  fingers  twitched 
nervously,  but  otherwise  he  gave  no  outward  sign. 
As  the  deputy  sheriffs  led  him  away,  he  stopped 


Ex-President  Theodore  Roosevelt          107 

and  insisted  upon  shaking  hands  with  each  one  of 
the  five  alienists. 

Although  Schrank  was  not  called  to  the  witness 
stand  during  the  inquisition  yesterday  afternoon, 
District  Attorney  W.  C.  Zabel  introduced  testi 
mony  to  show  Schrank's  every  movement  in  Mil 
waukee,  from  the  time  he  arrived  until  the  time  he 
shot  Col.  Roosevelt. 

This  testimony  tended  to  show  that  Schrank 
"filled  up"  on  beer  just  before  he  committed  the 
act,  although  each  of  the  witnesses  insisted  that  he 
was  not  intoxicated  at  the  time  he  did  the  shooting. 
One  policeman  said  that  he  was  dazed,  but  was  not 
intoxicated. 

The  testimony  showed  that  Schrank  spent  the 
early  part  of  the  evening  he  shot  Col.  Roosevelt  in 
the  saloon  of  Herman  Rollfink,  215  Third  street, 
where  he  posed  as  a  newspaper  man  "out  on  an 
investigating  trip." 

"Schrank  came  into  the  saloon  at  3  o'clock  in 
the  afternoon  and  drank  five  or  six  beers,"  testified 
Paul  Thume,  a  bartender.  "He  told  me  he  was  a 
newspaper  man,  and  to  prove  it,  he  pointed  to  the 
newspapers  in  his  pockets. 

"We  got  to  talking,  and  I  told  him  I  was  going 
out  west  to  earn  some  money.  He  advised  me  to  go 
south  to  make  money.  He  wanted  a  place  to  room, 


108  The  Attempted  Assassination  of 

but  when  I  recommended  a  room  for  $1  a  day,  he 
kicked.  Said  he  was  willing  to  pay  75  cents. 

"He  came  in  again  at  7  o'clock  in  the  evening 
and  we  talked  some  more.  He  then  asked  the  bar 
musicians  to  play  some  song,  something  with  stripes 
in  it,  and  then  he  bought  each  one  a  drink." 

For  the  first  time  during  the  hearing,  Schrank 
smiled.  It  started  in  a  broad  smile,  and  then  ex 
tended  until  it  covered  his  entire  face.  It  devel 
oped  that  he  asked  the  musicians  to  play  the  "Star 
Spangled  Banner,"  which  the  bartender  described 
as  a  song  having  "stripes"  in  it. 

Schrank  left  the  saloon  only  a  few  minutes  be 
fore  he  did  the  shooting,  after  having  again  treated 
all  to  drinks. 

The  testimony  of  the  barkeeper  was  substan 
tiated  by  two  musicians,  Frank  Galk  and  James 
Crawford,  who  said  that  Schrank  danced  around 
while  they  were  playing. 

Herman  Rollfink  told  how  he  jumped  on 
Schrank  after  the  shooting  and  blocked  the  door  to 
the  kitchen  in  the  hotel  after  Schrank  had  been 
carried  in  there. 

Capt.  Alfred  O.  Girard  said: 

"I  saw  Schrank  in  the  crowd  just  as  I  was  get 
ting  into  Col.  Roosevelt's  automobile.  I  saw  him 
as  he  raised  the  gun  up  between  two  men.  I  saw  the 
flash,  and  almost  simultaneously,  I  sprang  upon 


Ex-President  Theodore  Roosevelt          109 

him.    After  taking  him  into  the  hotel,  we  searched 
him,  but  found  no  other  weapons." 

Three  policemen  were  placed  on  the  stand  as 
witnesses,  and  each  one  insisted  that  he  was  not  de 
tailed  to  service  there,  but  had  been  attracted  to  the 
spot  by  the  crowd. 

This  tended  to  show  that  Col.  Roosevelt  had  no 
police  protection  while  he  was  in  Milwaukee. 

Robert  M.  Lenten,  clerk  at  the  Argyle  hotel, 
recognized  Schrank  as  the  guest  who  signed  his 
name  as  Albert  Ross. 

"He  came  to  the  hotel  about  10:15  Sunday 
night  and  I  assigned  him  to  room  No.  1,"  he  said. 
"He  did  not  act  unusual,  and  we  talked  as  I  showed 
him  to  his  room.  The  room  is  right  above  the  Mil 
waukee  river,  so  I  told  him  he  had  better  keep 
away  from  the  window,  if  he  didn't  want  to  fall 
into  the  'Wabash.'  That's  the  name  we  give  to  the 


river." 


This  struck  Schrank  as  funny  and  he  laughed 
again. 

The  report  of  the  alienists  was  filed  with  the 
court  just  before  10  o'clock  in  the  morning.  It  in 
cluded  fifty  pages  of  typewritten  matter,  and  its 
reading  consumed  nearly  two  hours.  After  the  re 
port  was  read,  the  alienists  were  placed  on  the  stand 
and  questioned  by  the  district  attorney. 


Judge  August  C.  Backus. 


Ex-President  Theodore  Roosevelt          1 1 1 

Schrank  listened  to  the  reading  of  the  report 
without  the  slightest  sign  of  interest,  until  the  clerk 
read  the  findings  pronouncing  him  insane. 

Schrank  was  taken  to  the  Northern  Hospital 
for  the  Insane,  Oshkosh,  by  Deputy  Sheriff  Rich 
ard  Muldenhauer  and  Fred  Becker,  bookkeeper  in 
the  sheriff's  office,  on  the  morning  of  November 
25,  at  11  o'clock. 

The  three  left  the  sheriff's  office  in  an  automo 
bile  shortly  before  11  o'clock  and  arrived  at  the 
Chicago  &  Northwestern  depot,  Milwaukee,  a  few 
minutes  before  train  time. 

Before  leaving  the  jail  Schrank  asked  for  the 
sheriff  and  thanked  him  for  his  kindness  during  his 
confinement  in  the  county  jail.  He  also  shook 
hands  with  Jailer  Adam  Roth  and  deputies  who 
have  been  with  him  during  the  trial. 

Schrank's  duties  at  the  Northern  Hospital  for 
the  Insane  and  are  light  and  remain  so  until  the 
physicians  of  the  hospital  have  had  ample  time  to 
observe  him. 


CHAPTER  XL 
SHOWS  REPENTANCE  BUT  ONCE. 

Although  Schrank's  bail  finally  was  fixed  at 
$15,000,  bail  would  not  have  been  accepted.  This 
was  announced  by  District  Attorney  Zabel.  One  of 
the  several  reasons  for  raising  the  bail  was  that 
motion  picture  men  had  planned  to  pay  Schrank's 
bail  and  secure  his  release  long  enough  to  once 
again  go  through  the  shooting  for  the  purpose  of 
making  a  motion  picture  film  of  the  event. 

"I  absolutely  refused  to  sanction  such  a  thing," 
said  the  district  attorney.  "It  is  bad  enough  to  have 
it  happen  once  without  perpetuating  the  deed  by 
enacting  it  once  again  for  the  motion  picture  men. 

"I  do  not  begrudge  the  earning  of  the  motion 
picture  men.  What  I  object  to  is  the  demoralizing 
effect  such  a  picture  film  would  have.  It  would 
tend  to  make  a  hero  out  of  this  man,  and  I  don't 
propose  that  the  young  shall  be  allowed  to  worship 
him  as  a  hero. 

"I  understand,  however,  that  a  motion  picture 
concern,  when  it  found  how  we  had  frustrated  its 
attempts  to  secure  an  actual  picture  of  Schrank 
actually  reproduced  a  scene  of  taking  Schrank  from 


Ex-President  Theodore  Roosevelt          113 

the  county  jail  to  the  city  hall  by  palming  off  an 
other  man  who  resembles  Schrank. 

"In  order  to  reproduce  a  scene  of  taking  him 
from  the  jail,  they  picked  out  a  building  that  re 
sembled  the  jail,  the  Ivanhoe  temple.  They  repro 
duced  Schrank  emerging  from  the  'jail'  between 
two  bogus  deputy  sheriffs.  Later  some  one  told  me 
the  same  performance  was  repeated  at  the  city  hall 
to  convey  the  impression  that  the  would-be  slayer 
was  being  taken  into  the  city  hall  and  up  to  the 
courtrooms." 

During  the  time  Schrank  was  confined  in  jail 
he  showed  signs  of  repentance  but  once,  that  was 
on  Sunday,  October  24,  when  religious  services 
were  conducted  in  the  jail. 

The  Rev.  Mr.  Cavanam,  a  traveling  evangelist, 
started  the  services  shortly  after  10  o'clock. 
Schrank,  who  a  week  before  refused  to  attend  serv 
ices  conducted  by  Christian  Endeavorers,  was  one 
of  the  first  to  appear  when  a  hymn  was  started. 

At  the  close  of  the  sermon  Schrank  turned  away 
and  walked  to  his  cell  with  head  bowed.  He  en 
tered  the  cell  and  fell  on  his  knees  alongside  his 
cot.  Several  of  the  prisoners  who  had  been  walk 
ing  up  and  down  the  corridor  stopped  in  amaze 
ment  on  seeing  Schrank  on  his  knees,  but  quietly 
walked  away  until  he  had  finished. 


114  The  Attempted  Assassination  of 

When  Miss  Alice  Evans,  a  soloist,  sang  a  song, 
Schrank  reappeared,  and  the  prisoners  noticed  a 
happy  look  on  his  face  which  had  not  been  visible 
before  during  his  imprisonment.  After  the  reli 
gious  people  had  left  the  jail  Schrank  mingled 
more  than  had  been  his  wont  with  the  other  pris 
oners,  and  seemed  to  be  in  high  spirits. 

When  Gustave  Struber  delivered  an  address  to 
the  prisoners  in  German  Schrank  appeared  to  be 
one  of  the  most  attentive  hearers,  and  shook  hands 
with  the  speaker  before  he  left  the  jail. 

There  is  nothing  about  Schrank  which  portrays 
the  human  fiend. 

On  the  contrary,  he  is  a  very  ordinary  type. 
There  are  hundreds  of  thousands  men  of  his  very 
type,  and  who  are  peaceable  citizens. 

The  only  way  that  Schrank  differs  from  other 
men  is  in  mind.  He  undoubtedly  is  a  degenerate 
possessing  a  depraved  and  diseased  mind,  but  there 
is  nothing  in  his  physical  make-up  that  would 
brand  him  as  such. 

Police  Chief  John  T.  Janssen,  student  of  human 
nature,  penetratingly  studied  and  measured  the 
man's  features  for  hours  during  examinations,  and 
arrived  at  the  conclusion  that  the  man  was  suffer 
ing  from  a  condition  of  mind  known  as  paranoia, 
pronounced  the  most  dangerous  form  of  insanity. 

This  mental  disease  makes  a  man  a  monoma- 


Ex-President  Theodore  Roosevelt          115 

niac.  He  is  perfectly  sane,  except  upon  one  sub 
ject,  which  controls  him  and  pushes  him  forward, 
even  in  some  cases,  to  murder. 

In  telling  of  his  crime,  there  was  nothing  de 
fiant  about  Schrank.  He  displayed  no  bravado. 
He  told  everything  in  a  frank  tone  of  voice — too 
frank,  almost,  as  it  raised  the  suspicion  that  prob 
ably  Schrank  was  not  a  mad  man. 

There  is  nothing  about  him  that  would  cause 
any  passer-by  to  glance  at  Schrank  twice.  And  his 
face  is  the  most  uninteresting  part  of  him. 

His  face  is  fat  and  round — moon-shaped.  His 
eyes  are  placed  wide  apart,  but  this  effect  is  lost 
through  ptosis,  a  species  of  paralysis  of  the  eyelids, 
which  gives  the  eyes  a  half  closed  appearance,  and 
is  responsible  for  the  sleepy  look  in  his  face.  It 
affects  one  eye  more  than  the  other  and  is  respon 
sible  for  that  squint  which  has  been  designated  as 
"a  murderous  squint"  by  sensationalists. 

His  nose  is  rather  large  and  prominent.  Con 
tinued  application  of  the  handkerchief  has  caused 
it  to  turn  almost  sharply  to  the  left. 

His  weak  mouth  finishes  off  what  would  other 
wise  be  a  fairly  good  face.  Cover  mouth  and  chin 
and  one  will  say  that  he  has  the  strong  face  of  the 
ordinary  American  workingman.  His  lips,  for  the 
most  part,  are  closed,  but  in  an  irregular  line,  giv 
ing  the  idea  that  his  jaws  are  hanging  loosely. 


116  The  Attempted  Assassination  of 

Altogether,  he  is  not  a  repulsive  looking  man. 
Merely  a  weak  looking  man.  Laughs  and  grins 
come  readily  during  his  conversations. 

The  only  remarkable  feature  about  him  is  his 
knowledge  of  American  history  and  politics.  He 
is  able  to  talk  intelligently  upon  modern  political 
questions,  showing  that  he  is  a  great  reader  along 
these  lines. 

The  more  one  looks  at  him  and  studies  him,  the 
more  one  wonders  what  it  is  that  could  have 
pressed  him  forward  to  commit  such  a  deed. 

Nothing  explains  his  weak  character  more  than 
his  hesitancy  to  fire  the  shot  at  Chattanooga.  He 
had  traveled  miles  to  do  it,  and  at  the  last  minute 
his  courage  oozed  out.  The  same  thing  happened 
in  Chicago.  He  stood  at  Hotel  La  Salle  with  mur 
der  in  his  heart,  but  hesitated  until  it  was  too  late. 

And  when  he  struck  Milwaukee,  he  acted  just 
like  a  boy  afraid  to  coast  down  a  big  hill,  who, 
finally  impelled  by  the  taunts  of  his  comrades, 
closes  his  eyes  and  starts. 

Look  down  through  history  and  you  find  that 
the  most  atrocious  crimes  were  committed  by  weak 
persons  of  the  same  caliber  as  John  Flammang 
Schrank. 


CHAPTER  XII. 
SCHRANK  BEFORE  CHIEF. 

John  Flammang  Schrank  was  taken  to  the  central  police 
station,  Milwaukee,  immediately  upon  his  arrest  in  front  of  the 
Hotel  Gilpatrick.  Under  direction  of  Chief  John  T.  Janssen, 
of  the  Milwaukee  police  department,  the  following  examination 
of  Schrank  was  conducted : 

Chief.    What  is  your  name  ? 

A.     Do  I  have  to  tell  that  tonight,  sir? 

Q.     Yes. 

A.     I  have  to  ? 

Q.     Yes. 

A.  I  have  given  the  man  below  the  promise  I  will  do  that 
tomorrow,  tell  him  all  I  know. 

Q.  Well,  there  is  no  reason  for  you  to  do  that  tomorrow, 
if  you  do  it  this  evening  it  will  facilitate  matters. 

A.     I  suppose  I  will  inconvenience  someone  by  not  telling. 

Q.     Yes,  you  are  helping  a  good  deal  by  telling. 

A.     Well,  I  come  from  New  York. 

Q.     What  is  your  name? 

A.     John  Schrank. 

Q.     When  did  you  come  here  from  New  York  ? 

A.  I  left  New  York  on  the  twenty-first  of  September  and 
I  left  for  Charleston  and  I  left  my  grip  there  in  the  Hotel 
Mosely ;  from  Charleston  to  Augusta  and  from  there  to  Atlanta 
and  from  Atlanta  I  think  to  Birmingham  and  over  to  Chatta 
nooga,  and  from  Chattanooga  I  \vent  to  Nashville  and  then  to 
Evansville,  and  then  to  Louisville,  and  then  to  Chicago,  and 
from  Chicago  here,  and  I  arrived  here  Sunday  at  one  o'clock. 

Q.     Why  did  you  go  to  all  those  places? 

A.     Because  I  wranted  to  meet  that  man. 

Q.     What  man? 

A.     Theodore  Roosevelt. 

Q.     How  long  have  you  lived  in  New  York? 

A.     About  twenty-five  years. 

Q.     What  is  your  business? 


118  The  Attempted  Assassination  of 

A.  Well,  I  am  not  doing  anything  now,  I  have  been  in  the 
liquor  business. 

Q.     Where? 

A.     In  New  York. 

Q.     What  place? 

A.     Tenth  street. 

Q.     Give  us  the  number  please? 

A.  Three  hundred  seventy,  East  Tenth  street,  between 
avenues  B  and  C;  I  have  been  with  my  uncle;  my  uncle's  name 
is  Flammang. 

Q.     Are  you  a  married  man  ? 

A.     No,  sir. 

Q.     How  long  have  you  been  in  the  liquor  business  ? 

A.  Well,  ever  since  I  was  a  boy.  My  folks  were  in  busi 
ness  the  time  I  come  over  here  and  I  was  twelve  years  old  then. 

Q.     How  old  are  you  now? 

A.     Thirty-six. 

Q.  Well,  what  object  did  you  have  in  following  around 
and  trying  to  meet  Theodore  Roosevelt? 

A.  Well,  because  I  have  been  reading  history  and  follow 
ing  up  history  and  I  have  seen  that  this  man  Roosevelt  is  trying 
to  break  one  of  the  old  established  traditions  of  the  country, 
calling  it  a  third  termer,  which  he  has  no  right  to;  he  can 
create  a  third  party  and  create  all  the  offices,  but  to  nominate 
himself  it  was  absolutely  out  of  the  way  and.  I  think  today  that 
it  is  absolutely  unnecessary  to  establish  now  and  have  the  third 
tradition  to  exist  and  not  to  be  violated  by  anybody. 

Q.  Well,  what  did  you  have  in  mind  to  do  when  you  went 
around  in  these  different  places? 

A.  I  had  in  mind  to  meet  him  and  he  escaped  me  every 
time;  he  escaped  me  in  Atlanta  and  Chattanooga. 

Q.     He  escaped  what  ? 

A.  He  has  not  come  the  way  I  expected,  he  did  not  come 
out  the  way  I  expected ;  if  he  goes  in  a  hall  today  and  speaks 
in  a  hall  and  he  come  in  this  way  or  that  way  he  goes  out  a 
different  way  and  the  man  got  away. 

Q.     What  did  he  escape  from? 

A.     From  the  places  I  wanted  to  meet  him  ? 

Q.     Why  did  you  want  to  meet  him? 


Ex-President  Theodore  Roosevelt          119 

A.  Because  I  wanted  to  put  him  out  of  the  way.  A  man 
that  wants  a  third  term  has  no  right  to  live. 

Q.     That  is,  you  wanted  to  kill  him? 

A.     I  did. 

Q.     Have  you  any  other  reason  in  wanting  to  kill  him? 

A.     I  have. 

Q.     What  is  that? 

A.  I  had  a  dream  several  years  ago  that  Mr.  McKinley 
appeared  to  me  and  he  told  me  that  Mr.  Roosevelt  is  prac 
tically  his  real  murderer  and  not  this  here  Czolgosz,  or  what 
ever  his  name  was,  Mr.  Roosevelt  is  practically  the  man  that 
has  been  the  real  murderer  of  President  McKinley  in  order  to 
get  the  presidency  of  the  United  States,  because  the  way  things 
were  that  time  he  was  not  supposed  to  be  a  president;  all  the 
leaders  did  not  want  him,  that's  the  reason  they  give  him  the 
vice-presidency,  which  is  political  suicide;  and  that's  what  I  am 
sore  about,  to  think  Mr.  McKinley  appeared  to  me  in  a  dream 
and  said,  "this  is  my  murderer  and  nobody  else." 

Q.  Did  you  speak  with  anybody  in  New  York  about  this 
before  you  left? 

A.     No,  sir. 

Q.     You  made  your  mind  up  to  this  all  yourself? 

A.  Yes,  because  I  am  alone,  although  I  own  property  in 
New  York. 

Q.     What  property? 

A.  I  own  property  in  four  hundred  thirty-three  East 
Eighty-first  street. 

Q.     What  does  it  consist  of? 

A.  It  consists  of  an  apartment  house  writh  ten  tenants;  it's 
estimated  at  twenty-five  thousand  dollars. 

Q.  Did  you  attend  any  political  meetings  in  New  York 
before  you  left? 

A.  I  attended  several,  yes,  sir;  ever  since  I  was  coming 
across  the  country;  I  had  political  meetings  in  Evansville,  In 
diana,  of  the  three  political  parties. 

Q.  Who  furnished  you  with  the  funds  that  you  needed  to 
travel  around  the  country? 

A.  I  beg  your  pardon,  I  was  just  telling  you  I  have  prop 
erty  there  and  had  the  money. 


Winifred  C.  Zabel, 
District  Attorney  Milwaukee  County. 


Ex-President  Theodore  Roosevelt          121 

Q.     Have  you  any  money  now  ? 

A.     No,  sir. 

Q.     When  did  you  run  out? 

A.  I  just  took  this  three  hundred  dollars  to  go  around  and 
all  I  saved  up  is  one  hundred  forty  dollars. 

Q.     Where  did  you  leave  that? 

A.     I  left  that  here. 

Q.     Well,  why  did  you  come  here;  oh,  this  was  yesterday? 

A.  I  came  here  Sunday  at  one  o'clock  in  order  to  find  out 
in  the  city  where  he  was  going  to  speak  and  where  I  could 
meet  him. 

Q.     You  never  were  married  ? 

A.     No,  sir. 

Q.  You  said  a  minute  ago  you  weren't  doing  anything 
now;  when  did  you  go  out  of  business? 

A.  I  am  out  of  business  going  on  two  years,  living  oft"  the 
income  of  the  property. 

Q.     And  that  is  sufficient  to  keep  you  ? 

A.     Sufficient  to  keep  me  as  long  as  I  keep  in  my  limits. 

Q.     How  much  is  the  property  worth? 

A.  Well,  it  has  been  worth  for  twenty-five,  supposed  to 
be  worth  at  twenty-five  and  taxed  at  twenty-five  thousand. 

Q.     How  much  is  the  income  you  derive  from  it  ? 

A.     Around  eight  hundred  dollars  a  year. 

Q.  And  do  you  live  with  your  brother  when  you  are  at 
home? 

A.  I  have  no  brother.  I  have  been  living  for  the  past 
seven  months  in  one  hundred  fifty-six  Canal  street,  New  York, 
that's  a  hotel. 

Q.     What  is  the  name  of  the  hotel? 

A.  White  House  they  call  it;  the  owner  of  the  hotel  is 
Jost,  Gustav,  Gustav  Jost. 

Q.     How  long  you  been  living  there? 

A.     I  think  seven  months. 

Q.     Is  there  a  bar  connected  with  the  place? 

A.     Oh,  indeed. 

Q.     Have  you  been  drinking  lately? 

A.     No,  sir ;  no,  sir ;  that  ain't  my  habit. 

Q.     What  is  your  favorite  drink  \vhen  you  do  ? 


122  The  Attempted  Assassination  of 

A.     Beer. 

Q.  If  you  had  your  mind  set  upon  shooting  Mr.  Roosevelt, 
how  does  it  come  that  you  had  to  follow  him  to  so  many  places 
before  you  came  here  ? 

A.  As  I  have  been  telling  you  a  minute  ago,  he  escaped  me 
many  a  time,  he  escaped  me  in  Chicago. 

Q.  By  leaving  the  place  where  he  spoke  by  some  other 
door? 

A.  By  some  other  door  and  I  was  watching  and  he  didn't 
come  out  that  way  and  it  was  advertised  by  the  papers  he  would 
come  on  the  Northwestern  and  instead  he  come  on  the  St.  Paul. 

Q.     Where  did  you  buy  the  revolver? 

A.     In  New  York. 

Q.     When? 

A.     On  Saturday  the  twenty-first. 

Q.  And  you  bought  it  with  the  object  in  view  of  shooting 
Mr.  Roosevelt? 

A.     Yes,  sir;  exactly. 

Q.     Where  did  you  buy  it? 

A.  I  could  not  really  tell  you  where  I  bought  it,  in  Broad 
way,  I  know  it's  below  Canal  street,  but  I  could  not  tell  you 
the  name. 

Q.     What's  the  make? 

A.  Colt ;  thirty-eight  caliber ;  it's  where  you  turn  the  bar 
rel  to  the  side  way,  it's  none  of  those  you  open  this  way. 

Q.     What  kind  of  place,  a  hardware  store  or  gun  shop? 

A.     No,  sir ;  nothing  but  guns ;  I  paid  fourteen  dollars  for  it. 

Q.  Did  you  ever  discuss  this  matter  with  any  other  person 
of  what  you  intended  to  do  ? 

A.     No,  sir;  no,  sir. 

Q.     You  didn't  speak  to  anyone? 

A.  I  discussed  as  far  as  the  political  discussion  is  con 
cerned,  but  I  never  give  anybody  a  hint  that  I  was  going  to  do 
this,  that  was  all  my  own  make-up. 

Q.     You  didn't  tell  anybody  why  you  bought  the  revolver? 

A.     No,  sir ;  nobody  knew  I  bought  a  revolver. 

Q.  In  this  dream  that  you  had,  McKinley  told  you  that  it 
wasn't  Czolgosz  that  killed  McKinley,  but  it  was  Roosevelt? 

A.     Well,  he  says  in  this  way,  "this  is  my  murderer." 


Ex-President  Theodore  Roosevelt          123 

Q.  Did  you  ever  meet  Czolgosz  or  know  him  in  his  life 
time? 

A.  No,  sir;  no,  sir;  how  could  I.  I  have  been  all  that 
time  since  I  have  been  here  in  New  York. 

Q.     Did  you  know  John  Most  when  he  was  alive? 

A.     No,  sir. 

Q.     Did  you  ever  hear  him  talk? 

A.     No,  sir. 

Q.     Did  you  ever  hear  Emma  Goldman? 

A.  No,  sir;  I  am  not  an  anarchist  or  socialist  or  democrat 
or  republican;  I  just  took  up  the  thing  the  way  I  thought  it 
was  best  to  do. 

Q.     You  are  not  a  member  of  any  party? 

A.  No,  sir;  I  thought  there  should  be  an  example  of  the 
third  term  if  it  should  exist  any  longer ;  Mr.  Grant  was  refused 
and  he  was  satisfied ;  this  man  was  refused  and  he  is  not  satis 
fied ;  it's  gone  beyond  limits;  if  he  keeps  on  doing  this  after 
election,  he  can't  possibly  carry  a  solid  western  state;  the  next 
thing  we  will  have  is  a  Civil  War,  because  he  will  say  the 
scoundrels  and  thieves  and  crooks  stole  my  nomination  and  now 
they  will  steal  my  election,  and  they  will  take  up  arms  in  all  the 
western  states;  we  are  facing  a  civil  war  just  to  keep  him  in  a 
third  term,  in  an  illegitimate  place. 

Q.     Where  did  you  get  all  this  idea  from? 

A.     I  have  been  reading  history  all  the  time. 

Q.  You  don't  find  that  anywhere  in  history  that  they  stole 
his  nomination  and  going  to  steal  his  election  ? 

A.  I  don't  have  to  read  that  in  history;  you  must  know  in 
the  Chicago  convention  it  was  in  every  paper,  everybody  could 
read  it. 

Q.     You  read  it  in  the  paper  then  ? 

A.     He  says  it  every  time  he  speaks. 

Q.     What  paper  do  you  read  at  home  in  New  York  ? 

A.     The  World. 

Q.     Is  that  the  only  paper  you  read  ? 

A.  I  read  German  papers  and  every  paper  I  got,  but  the 
regular  paper  is  the  World. 

Q.     What  country  do  you  hail  from  ? 

A.     Germany. 


124  The  Attempted  Assassination  of 

Q.     What  part  of  Germany? 

A.     Bavaria. 

Q.     What  is  the  name  of  the  place? 

A.  Two  hours  from  Munich ;  Munich  is  the  capital  of 
Bavaria. 

Q.     What  is  the  name  of  the  place? 

A.     Erding. 

Q.     What  schooling  did  you  have? 

A.  Well,  I  have  attended  school  in  the  old  country  and  I 
attended  night  school  in  New  York  for  about  four  winters; 
that's  all  the  schooling  I  had. 

Q.     You  haven't  a  very  good  education  then  ? 

A.     Indeed  I  ain't. 

Q.     Have  you  always  enjoyed  good  health  ? 

A.     Yes,  sir;  I  am  a  healthy,  sane  man,  never  been  sick. 

Q.     Never  been  sick? 

A.     No,  sir. 

Q.     Ever  been  sick  within  the  last  year? 

A.     No,  sir. 

Q.  Well,  do  you  believe  that  that's  a  sane  act  that  you 
committed  this  evening? 

A.  I  believe  that  is  my  duty  as  a  citizen  to  do,  it's  the 
duty  of  every  citizen  to  do  so. 

Q.  Well,  how  did  you  happen  to  get  the  idea  that  it  was 
your  duty  among  all  the  people  that  live  in  the  United  States? 

A.  I  don't  know;  I  thought  maybe  somebody  else  might 
do  it  before  I  got  there. 

Q.  And  you  spoke  to  no  one  about  your  intention  on  all 
the  route  you  took  concerning  this,  nobody? 

A.     No,  sir;  nobody. 

Q.  Are  you  familiar  with  the  law  in  New  York  with 
reference  to  carrying  concealed  weapons? 

A.     Yes,  sir. 

Q.     What  is  it? 

A.  I  know  when  I  bought  the  gun  the  man  told  me,  "I 
have  to  take  that  one  screw  out  in  order  to  make  the  trigger 
ineffective"  and  I  told  him  not  to  do  so  because  I  was  going 
to  leave  to\vn  the  very  same  day,  which  I  did. 

Q.     He  didn't  take  it  out? 


Ex-President  Theodore  Roosevelt          125 

A.  No,  sir;  he  didn't  do  it;  I  showed  him  the  ticket  for 
the  steamship  that  I  was  going  south  the  very  same  day  and  he 
said  as  long  as  I  was  going  out  the  law  didn't  fit  that. 

Q.     Where  were  you  going  to  ? 

A.     To  Charleston. 

Q.     On  the  steamship  to  Charleston? 

A.  Yes,  sir;  I  wanted  to  £0  from  New  York  to  New 
Orleans  because  I  thought  he  was  going  to  speak  in  New 
Orleans  and  I  thought  I  wrould  be  too  long  on  the  road  and 
he  would  be  gone  before  I  got  there  and  I  thought  I  wrould 
go  and  get  him  at  Atlanta. 

Q.     What  hotel  did  Mr.  Roosevelt  stop  at  in  Charleston? 

A.     Sir? 

Q.     What  hotel? 

A.  He  hasn't  been  at  Charleston ;  I  went  to  Augusta 
and  from  Augusta  to  Atlanta. 

Q.     What  hotel  did  he  stop  at  at  Atlanta? 

A.  I  really  could  not  tell  you,  I  don't  know;  I  think  I 
left  the  memorandum  downstairs  where  I  stopped,  but  I  don't 
think  I  could  tell  you  where  he  stopped. 

Q.     What  hotel  did  he  stop  at  at  Chicago? 

A.     At  Chicago,  at  Chicago  he  stopped,  stopped  at  La  Salle. 

Q.     Where  did  you  stop? 

A.     I  stopped  at  Jackson,  Hotel  Jackson. 

Q.     Where  is  he  going  to  after  he  leaves  here? 

A.  The  way  I  read  in  the  paper  this  morning  he  is  going 
back  to  Chicago  and  from  there  to  Indianapolis  and  from  there 
to  Louisville. 

Q.     What  name  did  you  register  under  at  Augusta? 

A.     Walter  Ross. 

Q.     What  name  at  Atlanta  ? 

A.  All  the  way  except  Charleston  I  give  my  real  name ; 
the  only  time  I  give  the  right  name  is  in  Charleston  where  I 
left  my  grip ;  I  saw  it  was  a  respectable  house  and  I  didn't  have 
to  stay  away  more  than  a  week  and  now  I  have  been  away 
more  than  three  weeks. 

Q.     Have  you  a  check  for  it? 

A.  No,  sir;  I  have  no  check;  it  is  not  a  hotel,  it  is  a 
boarding-house. 


126  The  Attempted  Assassination  of 

Q.     What  street  is  it  on? 

A.     It  is  I  believe  on  Meading  street  near  Main. 

Q.  What  place  did  you  stop  at  since  you  have  been  in 
this  city? 

A.  In  this  city  I  stopped  here,  let  me  see,  what  do  they 
call  that  hotel  again,  right  here  on  Wabash,  small  hotel. 

Q.     Blatz? 

A.     No,  sir. 

Q.     St.  Charles? 

A.     No,  sir;  small  place,  Argyle,  that's  on  Third  street. 

Q.     Did  you  have  any  baggage  when  you  came  here? 

A.     No,  sir;  I  left  all  the  baggage  at  Charleston. 

Q.  When  you  registered  did  they  ask  you  whether  you  had 
any  baggage? 

A.     No,  sir;  nobody  asked  me. 

Q.     Did  you  pay  in  advance? 

A.  I  generally  never  stayed  any  longer  than  one  or  two 
nights  and  for  every  night  I  pay  a  dollar  for  my  room;  nobody 
asked  me  about  baggage. 

Q.     You  paid  that  after  you  registered  at  the  Argyle? 

A.     Yes,  sir. 

Q.     What  room  did  you  occupy? 

A.  In  the  Argyle  I  guess  it  was  number  one,  right  toward 
the  Wabash  River. 

Q.     Why  do  you  call  it  the  Wabash  River? 

A.  Because  the  man  told  me  it  was;  he  said,  "the  only 
room  I  have  left  is  the  one  facing  the  Wabash  River." 

Q.     What  is  the  name  of  this  city? 

A.  This  city,  it's  supposed  to  be  Milwaukee;  I  feel  very 
sorry  that  the  trouble  has  happened  in  this  city;  I  suppose  I 
have  made  considerable  trouble  for  you  people  and  for  the 
citizens  of  the  town. 

Q.     Have  you  any  relatives  living  in  this  country? 

A.     No,  sir. 

Q.     Any  in  Germany? 

A.  Yes,  sir;  I  think  I  have,  I  haven't  been  in  correspon 
dence  for  quite  a  while,  I  don't  know  if  they  are  well. 

Q.     What  relatives  have  you? 

A.     I  have  a  mother  living  there. 


Ex-President  Theodore  Roosevelt          127 

Q.     Mother? 

A.     Yes,  brother  and  sister. 

Q.     At  Erding? 

A.     No,  they  are  at  Tyrol. 

Q.     Switzerland  ? 

A.     Tyrol  that  is  not  Switzerland,  that  is  Bavarian  Tyrol. 

Q.     Have  you  ever  been  in  trouble  before? 

A.     No,  sir;  not  that  I  remember. 

Q.     Ever  been  arrested  for  anything? 

A.     Not  in  my  life. 

Q.  Have  you  ever  been  committed  to  an  institution  of 
any  kind? 

A.  No,  sir;  never,  I  have  always  stayed  out  of  trouble, 
I  have  never  been  in  any  trouble  whatever,  and  this  trouble  I 
committed  myself,  now  I  am  contented  I  did. 

Q.     You  are  not  a  bit  sorry? 

A.  No,  sir.  You  may  look  up  the  records  of  all  New 
York  police  headquarters,  because  I  have  never  been  there,  I 
have  never  been  arrested  there. 

Q.     What  did  you  say  your  name  was  ? 

A.     John  Schrank. 

Q.  Did  you  tell  anybody  that  you  were  going  to  leave 
your  baggage  there? 

A.  I  told  them  people  I  was  going  to  stay  awTay  for  about 
three  days. 

Q.  Did  you  make  any  arrangement  for  them  to  send  it  in 
case  you  wrote  for  it? 

A.  No,  sir;  I  stopped  there  two  days  and  paid  eight  dol 
lars  in  advance  for  a  week's  board,  and  I  dressed  up  and  went 
away  and  I  told  the  people  I  might  be  back  in  three  days  and 
of  course  ever  since  then  they  didn't  hear  anything  of  me  and 
I  guess  if  they  do  hear  and  I  can  communicate  they  wrill  give 
it  over  and  all  perhaps  they  will  charge  is  the  storage. 

Q.  Why  did  you  tell  them  you  were  going  to  be  gone 
three  days? 

A.  I  didn't  think  it  would  take  longer  than  three  days 
when  I  would  be  away. 

Q.     Then  you  thought  you  would  go  back? 

A.     I  thought  I  would  be  arrested,  I  couldn't  tell. 


128  The  Attempted  Assassination  of 

Q.     What  does  your  grip  contain? 

A.  Nothing  but  a  suit  of  clothes  and  underwear  and  I 
got  a  deed  to  my  property  and  as  I  told  you  the  box  where  the 
gun  is  in  and  that's  about  all  there  is  in. 

Q.     Are  you  a  full  citizen? 

A.     Sir? 

Q.     Are  you  a  full  citizen  ? 

A.     What  does  that  mean  ? 

Q.     Got  your  second  papers? 

A.  I  never  had  my  first,  I  come  over  here  a  minor;  I  got 
my  papers  when  I  was  twenty-one,  I  think  my  paper  reads  July 
twenty-third,  ninety-seven;  I  think  that's  what  it  reads. 

Q.     When  did  you  first  begin  to  think  about  this? 

A.     I  began  to  think  of  it  after  the  Chicago  convention. 

Q.     What  caused  you  to  think  of  it? 

A.  I  thought  on  account  of  calling  a  new  convention  and 
starting  the  third  party  that  makes  anybody  think;  what's  the 
use  of  being  a  citizen  if  you  don't  take  any  interest  in  the 
politics  of  our  country? 

Q.  What  did  you  read  in  the  paper  that  directed  your 
mind  to  Mr.  Roosevelt? 

A.  You  read  a  lot  of  things  in  the  papers  and  especially  in 
the  New  York  World ;  the  New  York  World  practically  come 
out  that  the  country  is  in  danger  if  he  has  the  chair  again. 

Q.     Did  you  read  Harper's  Weekly? 

A.     Harper's  I  don't  read,  no,  sir. 

Q.  Did  they  say  anything  in  particular  that  centered  your 
attention  on  this  act? 

A.  No,  sir;  not  at  all,  perhaps  a  million  people  read  it  and 
didn't  think  anything  and  I  just  happened  to  read  the  matter 
over,  I  was  interested  from  there. 

Q.     Editorial  page? 

A.     Editorial  page. 

Q.     You  remember  any  particular  editorial? 

A.     No,  sir;  I  do  not  remember.     I  could  not  repeat  it. 

Q.  Well,  did  you  read  anything  else  in  any  other  paper 
except  the  World  that  made  any  impression  on  you  of  Mr. 
Roosevelt? 


Ex-President  Theodore  Roosevelt          129 

A.  Well,  in  fact  I  have  been  following  up  all  papers  of 
the  political  views  and  I  have  been  taking  out  the  World  as  the 
right  thing,  she  is  right  the  way  she  talks  and  one  paper  I  read, 
the  New  York  Herald,  and  she  never  speaks  about  Theodore 
Roosevelt  but  the  third  termer  and  she  don't  mention  his  name, 
only  the  third  termer. 

Q.  Did  you  ever  apply  for  any  position  in  the  United 
States  Government? 

A.     No,  sir. 

Q.  Did  you  know  Mr.  Roosevelt  when  he  was  Police 
Commissioner  ? 

A.  I  did,  indeed  I  did.  In  those  days  we  was  and  my 
folks  were  in  the  liquor  business  and  they  closed  us  up  like  the 
other  people  and  I  didn't  feel  any  sympathy  with  them. 

Q.     Which  particular  place  did  he  close  up? 

A.     What  do  you  mean? 

Q.  You  say  he  closed  up  some  place  of  your  people,  \vhich 
one? 

A.     He  closed  up  all  places. 

Q.     Were  you  in  the  liquor  business? 

A.     I  was  with  my  folks. 

Q.     With  whom? 

A.     My  uncle. 

Q.     He  closed  your  uncle? 

A.  He  closed  everything  and  there  was  about  two  months 
there  was  nothing  open  and  a  policeman  stationed  at  every  door. 

Q.     That  was  after  midnight  and  on  Sunday? 

A.  It  was  not  closed  up  on  Sunday  but  during  the  week, 
I  am  not  talking  about  the  Sunday  Law. 

Q.     And  you  thought  that  was  not  right? 

A.  Anybody  encroaches  on  your  right  you  think  it  is  not 
right. 

Q.     How  long  ago  was  that  ? 

A.  Eighty-six  he  ran  for  Mayor  against  Henry  George, 
I  think  it  was  nine-three  or  ninety-four. 

Q.  Did  the  fact  of  that  act  of  his,  of  closing  you  up  on 
Sunday,  have  anything  to  do  with  what  you  done  tonight  ? 

A.     No,  sir. 

Q.     You  never  felt  kindly  toward  him? 


Dr.  Joseph  Colt  Bloodgood,  Johns  Hopkins  University. 


Ex-President  Theodore  Roosevelt          131 

A.     Yes,  sir;  I  did  until  he  started  a  third  party. 

Q.     You  thought  he  was  infringing  on  your  right? 

A.  Well,  on  everybody's  right,  every  citizen's  right,  he  had 
no  right  to  do  that;  he  could  start  a  party  and  nominate  every 
officer  in  there,  but  not  put  himself  on  for  a  third  term,  that 
was  no  way  to  do. 

Q.  Did  5Tou  vote  for  him  in  ninetenn  hundred  four  or  for 
Parker? 

A.     I  voted  Democratic. 

Q.     Parker? 

A.     Yes,  sir. 

Q.     You  a  member  of  Tammany? 

A.  No,  I  am  not  a  member,  I  am  not  a  member  of  any 
political  party;  when  they  arrested  me  one  man  called  me  a 
Socialist. 

Q.     Did  you  oppose  him  in  nineteen  hundred  four? 

A.     I  voted  against  him ;  I  never  expected  the  man  to  draw 
as  big  a  majority  as  he  did. 

Q.     Did  you  make  speeches  against  him  ? 

A.     No,  sir. 

Q.     Talk  against  him? 

A.     The  same  as  anybody  else. 

Q.     You  thought  he  wasn't  liberal? 

A.     He  was  not  liberal. 

Q.     You  didn't  like  his  attitude,  you  were  against  him  ? 

A.     Yes,  sir. 


CHAPTER  XIII. 
WITNESSES  OF  THE  SHOOTING. 

The  following  statements  of  Wheeler  P.  Blood- 
good,  representing  the  Progressive  National  com 
mittee;  F.  E.  Davidson,  Milwaukee  county  chair 
man  of  the  Progressive  party,  Capt.  A.  O.  Girard 
and  others  set  forth  arrangements  for  Col.  Roose 
velt's  speech  in  the  Auditorium  on  the  night  of 
October  14,  1912,  and  present  many  facts  concern 
ing  the  shooting  of  Col.  Roosevelt  not  before  made 
public. 

These  statements  were  made  to  District  Attor 
ney  W.  C.  Zabel  during  the  examination  of 
Schrank  conducted  by  him  on  Oct.  16. 

The  purpose  of  this  hearing  was  to  ascertain 
if  possible  whether  others  were  with  Schrank  in  the 
plot  to  kill  the  ex-president. 

While  the  examination  developed  a  second  man 
who  was  very  anxious  to  get  close  to  Col.  Roose 
velt  during  his  stay  in  the  Gilpatrick,  no  other  evi 
dence  concerning  this  second  man's  connection  with 

the  shooting  was  developed. 

#         *         # 

The  following  statement  by  Attorney  Wheeler 
P.  Bloodgood  was  made  on  Oct.  16  to  District  At 
torney  Zabel : 


Ex-President  Theodore  Roosevelt          133 

As  the  acting  national  committee  man  of  the 
Progressive  party  in  Wisconsin,  I  called  a  meeting 
of  the  Executive  Committee  in  connection  with  the 
address  to  be  made  by  Col.  Roosevelt  in  Milwau 
kee,  Oct.  14.  By  direction  of  the  committee,  F.  E. 
Davidson,  county  chairman  of  Milwaukee  County 
of  the  Progressive  party,  was  put  in  charge  of  ar 
rangements  for  the  meeting,  and  was  directed  to 
lease  the  main  hall  of  the  Auditorium  in  Milwau 
kee  for  the  evening  of  Oct.  14. 

After  Mr.  Davidson,  who  accompanied  Mr. 
Norman  L.  Baker,  state  chairman,  in  engaging  the 
hall  and  making  other  arrangements,  had  made  his 
report,  I  discussed  with  him  the  question  of  proper 
police  protection  for  Col.  Roosevelt  and  his  party 
while  they  were  in  Milwaukee,  and  Mr.  Davidson 
informed  me  that  he  and  Mr.  Paul  Heyl,  whom  he 
had  appointed  sergeant-at-arms,  had  taken  this 
matter  up  with  the  police  department  of  Milwau 
kee. 

I  went  to  Chicago  on  the  morning  of  Oct.  14th, 
accompanied  by  H.  E.  Miles  and  others.  Col. 
Roosevelt  and  his  party  came  to  Milwaukee.  On 
the  train  from  Chicago  to  Milwaukee  I  advised 
Colonel  Lyon,  of  Texas,  who  was  in  charge  of  Col. 
Roosevelt's  person,  that  we  would  be  met  at  the 
depot  in  Milwaukee  by  Mr.  Davidson,  who  was  in 
charge  of  the  arrangements  for  the  meeting,  and  by 


134  The  Attempted  Assassination  of 

others,  and  that  they  would  request  that  Col.  Roose 
velt  have  his  supper,  at  least,  at  the  Hotel  Gil- 
patrick.  I  advised  them  that  Mr.  Davidson  had 
made  all  of  the  arrangements  in  Milwaukee  for 
the  meeting  of  the  Colonel,  and  his  care,  between 
the  time  of  his  reaching  the  city  and  the  holding 
of  the  meeting  at  the  Auditorium.  Col.  Lyon  and 
O.  K.  Davis  strongly  objected  to  Col.  Roosevelt 
leaving  his  car,  and  said  it  was  there  that  he  should 
have  his  dinner  and  go  directly  from  the  car  to  the 
Auditorium. 

When  the  Colonel's  car  reached  Racine,  Capt. 
Girard  got  on  the  train  and  spoke  to  me  in  refer 
ence  to  his  acting  as  the  Colonel's  bodyguard  while 
he  was  in  Milwaukee.  My  recollection  is  that  the 
Colonel  was  in  the  back  part  of  the  car  when  the 
captain  got  on  board,  and  he  at  once  recognized 
the  captain  and  spoke  to  him  as  though  he  were 
greeting  an  old  friend.  Then  Capt.  Girard  had  a 
talk  with  Col.  Lyon  and  Mr.  O.  K.  Davis,  and  it 
was  understood  that  the  captain  would  be  with  the 
Colonel  during  the  whole  time  he  was  in  Milwau 
kee,  and  it  was  understood  that  he  was  in  charge 
of  the  Colonel's  person. 

When  the  train  reached  Milwaukee,  Mr.  Da 
vidson  got  on  the  rear  platform  and  was  introduced 
by  me  to  Col.  Roosevelt,  and  he  at  once  said  to 
Col.  Roosevelt: 


Ex-President  Theodore  Roosevelt          135 

"The  boys  are  all  anxious  that  you  have  your 
supper  at  the  Hotel  Gilpatrick,  and  we  have  made 
arrangements  there  so  that  you  can  rest.  The  hotel 
is  not  one  of  the  best  known  hotels  in  Milwaukee, 
but  it  is  a  quiet  and  good  place.  The  owner  has 
been  a  great  friend  of  the  county  committee  and 
it  would  please  us  all  very  much  if  you  wrould 


come." 


The  Colonel  said  to  Mr.  Davidson  and  to  me 
that  he  had  planned  to  stay  in  the  car  and  go  di 
rectly  from  the  car  to  the  Auditorium.  As  I  recall 
it,  Col.  Lyon,  O.  K.  Davis,  Dr.  S.  L.  Terrell  spoke 
up  and  said: 

"That  is  the  arrangement,  and  that  is  what  will 
have  to  be  done." 

Then  the  Colonel  turned  to  Mr.  Davidson  and 
wanted  to  know  whether  these  arrangements  had 
been  made,  and  whether  the  boys  would  be  disap 
pointed  if  he  did  not  do  wrhat  had  been  expected. 
Mr.  Davidson  said: 

"We  do  not  want  to  do  anything  that  will  in 
convenience  you,  but  I  think  they  will  be  disap 
pointed." 

Whereupon  the  Colonel  saluted  and  said: 

"I  am  going." 

The  Doctor  went  back  to  get  the  Colonel's 
overcoat,  and  as  soon  as  he  put  on  his  overcoat  the 
Colonel,  accompanied  by  Mr.  Davidson,  Capt. 


136  The  Attempted  Assassination  of 

Girard  upon  one  side  and  Col.  Lyon  on  the  other, 
went  through  the  line  of  the  marching  club  and 
got  into  the  automobile.  Col.  Lyon  requested  of 
me  that  the  party  be  made  a  small  one  and  not 
have  a  great  many  automobiles.  They  went  di 
rectly  to  the  Gilpatrick.  At  about  twenty  minutes 
to  eight  I  went  to  the  hotel  with  H.  E.  Miles, 
Frank  M.  Hoyt,  Congressman  H.  A.  Cooper,  of 
Racine,  Prof.  Merriman,  of  Chicago,  and  others. 
When  I  reached  the  lobby  of  the  hotel  I  talked 
with  Capt.  Girard  and  told  him  that  I  had  another 
machine  there  and  that  I  found  there  was  only  one 
machine  in  front  of  the  hotel;  that  Mr.  Moss,  Mr. 
Taylor  and  I  thought  that  machine  should  be  used, 
and  that  I,  with  the  others  who  had  accompanied 
me,  would  walk  from  the  hotel  to  the  Auditorium, 
my  understanding  being  that  Col.  Lyon  did 
not  want  a  large  crowd  to  accompany  Col.  Roose 
velt  to  the  Auditorium.  Capt.  Girard  told  me  that 
he  understood  that  the  party  would  be  down  and 
ready  to  start  promptly,  to  reach  the  Auditorium 
at  a  few  minutes  after  eight.  Mr.  Moss  and  Mr. 
Taylor  were  in  the  auto  in  which  the  Colonel  was 
to  drive  from  the  hotel  to  the  Auditorium.  The 
machine  that  I  had  came  through  the  crowd  and 
got  right  close  to  Mr.  Moss'  and  Mr.  Taylor's 
auto. 


Ex-President  Theodore  Roosevelt          137 

I  went  immediately  to  the  Auditorium  and 
went  in  at  the  State  Street  entrance  and  went  on 
the  platform.  Mr.  Miles,  state  treasurer  of  the 
party,  had  called  together  Mr.  Heyl,  Mr.  David 
son  and  some  of  the  sergeants-at-arms  and  was  mak 
ing  arrangements  to  take  up  a  collection  from  the 
audience.  Mr.  Miles  had  started  to  go  on  the 
platform  to  announce  this  collection  and  the 
sergeants-at-arms  proceeded  to  their  various  places 
to  get  instructions,  and  I  went  to  the  stage  door. 

Col.  Roosevelt  came  and  I  knew  nothing  what 
ever  of  what  had  occurred;  while  I  noticed  the 
party  accompanying  him  seemed  excited.  The 
Colonel  showed  no  excitement  at  all,  and  I  said  to 
him : 

"Wait  a  few  minutes  back  of  the  stage  while 
Mr.  Miles  takes  up  the  collection.  Mr.  Donald 
Ferguson  desires  to  have  it." 

The  Colonel  said: 

"Mr.  Bloodgood,  I  have  been  shot  and  there  is 
a  bullet  somewhere  in  my  body;  the  important 
thing  is  that  nothing  should  be  said  or  done  to  cause 
a  panic  in  the  audience.  I  intend  to  deliver  my 
address,  or  at  least  a  part  of  it." 

Col.  Roosevelt  then  went  back  of  the  stage  and 
requested  us  to  go  to  the  front  and  prevent  any  one 
saying  anything.  He  said: 

"It  will  only  be  a  minute  before  I  will  be  out." 


138  The  Attempted  Assassination  of 

I  also  heard  the  Colonel  tell  Mr.  Cochems  to 
say  or  do  nothing  that  would  frighten  the  people. 

The  appearance  of  the  Colonel  on  the  platform 
and  the  circumstances  connected  with  it  have  been 
fully  described.  Col.  Lyon,  just  before  the  address 
of  Col.  Roosevelt  was  made,  suggested  to  me  that 
it  was  very  important  that  the  crowd  should  not 
press  around  Col.  Roosevelt  and  to  make  arrange 
ments  to  prevent  that.  I  went  back  and  found 
three  men  who  said  they  were  detectives,  and  I 
asked  them  to  come  on  the  stage  and  to  make  ar 
rangements  so  as  to  prevent  the  crowd  from  press 
ing  around  Col.  Roosevelt.  Mr.  Cochems,  in  the 
mean  time,  had  gone  in  front  of  Col.  Roosevelt  so 
as  to  catch  him  if  he  should  fall,  and  had  made  all 
arrangements  to  prevent  the  crowd  from  rushing 
on  the  platform  after  the  address  was  finished. 

Col.  Roosevelt,  after  the  address,  walked 
through  the  aisle,  which  was  kept  open  from  the 
stage  door,  to  the  automobile;  as  he  got  into  the 
automobile  he  shook  my  hand  and  said  that  he 
wanted  it  made  emphatic  that  he  blamed  no  one; 
that  the  city  authorities  were  not  to  blame,  nor  was 
any  blame  to  be  attached  to  any  one  that  had  charge 
of  this  meeting;  that  it  was  an  accident  and  could 
not  have  been  prevented;  that  it  might  have  hap 
pened  anywhere;  and  repeated  the  importance  of 
making  that  clear,  and  that  that  was  his  feeling. 


Ex-President  Tkeodore  Roosevelt          139 

That  was  just  before  he  left  in  the  auto  for  the 
Emergency  hospital. 


The  following  statement  was  made  by  Capt. 
A.  O.  Girard,  who  was  in  the  automobile  when 
Col.  Roosevelt  was  shot.  The  statement  was  made 
in  the  office  of  the  district  attorney  on  Oct.  16, 
1912. 

I  was  asked  by  the  secretary  of  the  Progressive 
State  Central  committee  to  go  to  Racine  and  meet 
the  Colonel,  having  been  with  him  in  his  depart 
ment  and  been  his  body  guard  before,  and  take 
some  papers  down.  The  Colonel  requested  that  1 
stay  with  him  for  the  evening  and  after  we  got  at 
the  hotel  I  stood  in  front  of  the  door  so  he  wouldn't 
be  disturbed,  and  also  at  the  dining  room  door. 

While  sitting  in  the  dining  room  door  there  was 
a  slight,  dark  man  who  said  he  came  there  especi 
ally  from  New  York  to  see  the  Colonel,  and  was 
very  persistent  and  wanted  to  open  the  dining  room 
door  and  see  him  at  the  table.  I  finally  forced  him 
away.  He  was  sallow  complexioned,  28  or  30 
years  of  age,  I  imagine,  had  a  dark  overcoat  on, 
not  so  extra  well  dressed,  smooth  face.  I  noticed 
his  eyes  particularly — they  were  rather  shifty— 
and  he  was  very,  very  persistent  in  getting  to  the 
dining  room.  He  was  a  man  of  about  five  feet  ten ; 


Dr.  R.  G.  Sayle,  Milwaukee. 


Ex-President  Theodore  Roosevelt          141 

this  happened  at  7  o'clock  at  the  Gilpatrick  dining 
room. 

I  saw  him  after  that  after  I  had  told  him  to  go 
away;  he  got  something  to  smoke  at  the  cigar  stand 
and  then  went  out.  I  did  not  see  him  after  that, 
things  happened  so  rapidly. 

The  Colonel  went  upstairs  and  got  his  hat  and 
coat  on  and  came  down.  I  cleared  the  way  going 
out  with  Sergeant  Murray,  and  I  told  the  fellows 
on  the  other  side  of  the  automobile  to  get  back; 
they  were  jammed  up  against  the  automobile;  the 
Colonel  started  to  get  into  the  automobile. 

Just  as  I  put  my  foot  on  the  step  of  the  car,  I 
saw  this  man  raise  his  gun,  stick  it  between  two  fel 
lows'  heads  at  the  full  extent  of  his  arm,  and  Mr. 
Taylor  can  tell  you  the  rest. 

I  started  to  get  into  the  machine  from  the  side 
walk,  and  Mr.  Moss  sat  up  on  the  seat  to  get  out  of 
my  way,  and  Mr.  Taylor  laid  back,  as  I  remember 
it,  to  give  him  room;  after  he  was  laid  back,  I  had 
my  right  foot  on  top  of  the  car  door.  That  is  as 
far  as  I  got  into  the  machine.  I  saw  this  man  ex 
tend  his  hand  with  this  gun  between  two  other 
men's  heads.  He  reached  as  far  as  he  could  with 
it.  The  end  of  that  gun  was  probably  six  feet 
raised  to  the  level  of  his  eye;  he  took  a  good  aim. 
Everybody  was  watching  the  Colonel. 


142  The  Attempted  Assassination  of 

The  moment  1  saw  that  arm  go  up  1  remember 
distinctly  the  flourishing  of  the  gun  almost  in  my 
face,  and  at  the  same  time  somebody  else  jumped 
from  the  other  end  of  the  machine.  We  were  all 
on  the  ground  together  and  then  Sergeant  Murray 
came  up  and  Murray  and  I  took  the  man  over  to 
the  Colonel's  seat,  Murray  having  him  by  the  arm 
and  I  by  the  throat.  Mr.  Martin  had  him  by  the 
other  arm. 

The  Colonel  said,  "Bring  him  to  me,  bring  him 
here,"  and  we  bent  his  head  back  so  the  Colonel 
could  see  him.  Then  they  began  to  shout,  "Lynch 
him,  kill  him." 

The  Colonel  said,  "Do  not  hurt  him." 

Before  that,  on  the  ground,  the  fellow  tried  to 
kick  me  and  made  it  more  difficult  for  us  to  get  the 
man,  and  as  a  result  I  got  most  of  the  kicks. 

After  we  took  him  to  the  Colonel,  Sergeant 
Murray  and  I  had  a  difficult  thing  to  get  that  man 
away.  I  shouted  to  Murray:  "Into  the  kitchen." 

We  fought  our  way  through  the  dining  room 
into  the  kitchen  with  two  or  three  hundred  fellows. 
Murray  left  the  man  in  my  care  until  he  called  the 
patrol  wagon.  Then  I  started  for  the  Auditorium. 
After  we  went  to  the  kitchen  I  searched  the  man 
again  for  possible  other  weapons.  I  did  not  find 
anything.  He  said:  "My  gun  is  gone;  your  peo 
ple  took  it  away  from  me." 


Ex-President  Theodore  Roosevelt          143 

I  forced  him  down  into  a  chair  and  held  him 
down  until  the  police  got  back. 

(Mr.  Zabel) — You  accompanied  the  Colonel 
from  the  train  to  the  hotel? 

(Answer) — Yes. 

(Mr.  Zabel) — Did  you  notice  the  police  pro 
tection? 

(Answer) — They  did  not  have  enough  men  to 
keep  the  crowd  away  from  the  side  of  the  Colonel. 
I  think  it  was  one  of  the  ex-President's  party  who 
walked  along  side  of  the  ex-President.  When  1 
got  to  the  hotel  I  was  of  course  pretty  busy  with  the 
Colonel,  and  Sergeant  Murray  was  there.  Some 
one  asked  me  to  see  if  he  could  not  get  an  officer 
to  go  with  the  carriage  to  the  Auditorium  and  walk 
on  the  side  the  ex-President  was.  I  called  the  Ser 
geant  and  he  said  he  would  find  a  man  for  me  there. 
As  to  how  many  men  were  there,  I  do  not  remem 
ber.  I  know  Sergeant  Murray  was  there  and  I 
saw  one  other  man. 

(Mr.  Zabel) — Any  policeman  assisting  you  and 
the  sergeant  in  making  the  arrest  of  this  fellow? 

(Answer) — There  was  another  officer  there 
when  we  started  to  the  hotel  trying  to  keep  the 

crowd  back. 

*         #         # 

Francis  E.  Davidson,  chairman  of  the  Mil 
waukee  County  Progressive  committee,  made  the 


144  The  Attempted  Assassination  of 

following  statements  to  District  Attorney  Zabel  on 
Oct.  16: 

Mr.  Bloodgood  called  me  over  to  his  office  and 
that  I  was  to  take  charge  of  the  Roosevelt 
meeting  in  the  Auditorium.  Among  other  duties, 
I  was  to  inform  the  police  department  and  ask  for 
protection  for  Col.  Roosevelt  while  he  was  in  the 
city.  I  went  to  the  office  of  the  chief  of  police  with 
Paul  Heyl,  sergeant-at-arms,  two  days  before  the 
meeting.  The  chief  of  police  was  not  in,  but  I  was 
sent  to  the  inspector.  We  told  him  that  we  wanted 
police  protection  at  the  depot,  on  the  streets  and 
at  the  Hotel  Gilpatrick  for  Col.  Roosevelt,  which 
was  promised.  In  going  away  I  did  not  think  that 
he  attached  enough  importance  to  what  I  told  him, 
and  I  went  back  and  asked  him  on  account  of  con 
ditions  in  the  country  I  wanted  extra  police  protec 
tion  for  the  Colonel,  and  was  informed  that  he  had 
taken  care  of  Col.  Roosevelt  before. 

(Mr.  Zabel) — When  this  car  arrived  in  Mil 
waukee,  what  police  protection  was  visible  to  you? 

(Answer) — I  think  there  were  two  or  three  po 
licemen  down  at  the  station  in  uniform. 

(Mr.  Zabel) — Were  there  any  plain  clothes 
men  that  you  recognized? 

(Answer) — Not  that  I  recognized. 

(Mr.  Zabel) — Are  you  familiar  with  them? 

(Answer) — No. 


Ex-President  Theodore  Roosevelt          145 

(Mr.  Zabel) — Where  were  they  stationed? 

(Answer) — One  in  front  of  the  depot  and  one 
at  the  gate. 

(Mr.  Zabel) — Was  the  ex-President  obliged  to 
pass  through  the  depot  on  his  way  out? 

(Answer) — No,  through  the  small  gate. 

I  told  Mr.  Bloodgood  that  we  had  made  ar 
rangements  which  would  prevent  any  one  calling 
on  Col.  Roosevelt  at  the  hotel,  having  a  private 
room  and  also  police  protection. 

(Mr.  Zabel) — What  protection  did  you  notice 
when  you  came  there? 

(Answer) — I  noticed  a  policeman  at  the  door. 
There  may  have  been  plain  clothes  men. 
*         *         * 

The  following  statement  was  made  to  District 
Attorney  Zabel  on  Oct.  16,  by  Thomas  Taylor, 
who  was  in  the  automobile  with  Col.  Roosevelt: 

We  had  the  honor  of  escorting  the  ex-President 
in  our  machine  from  the  depot  to  the  Gilpatrick. 
We  left  him  there  and  we  kept  the  machine  in 
front  of  the  main  part  of  the  hotel  door  all  the  time. 
While  Mr.  Moss  was  away  I  remained  with  the 
machine,  and  when  he  came  back  I  went  into  the 
hotel. 

As  I  came  in,  I  asked  where  the  Colonel  was. 
They  said  he  was  in  the  dining  room,  and  I  talked 
to  two  or  three  of  the  committeemen  there.  After 


146  The  Attempted  Assassination  of 

I  got  to  one  side  there  was  a  man  about  twenty- 
eight  or  thirty  years  of  age,  smooth  face,  fairly  well 
dressed,  who  asked  me  if  I  could  get  him  a  ticket 
to  the  Auditorium. 

I  said,  "Where  are  you  from?"  He  said,  "I  am 
from  New  York."  Well,  I  told  him  the  tickets 
were  all  given  out,  and  there  was  no  way  for  him 
to  get  in  unless  he  wanted  to  go  immediately  over 
to  the  hall  and  take  chances  with  the  rest. 

The  thing  that  struck  me  after  that  was  that  he 
did  not  go  immediately  over  to  the  hall,  but  stood 
about  talking.  His  appearance  is  just  exactly  as 
Capt.  Girard  described.  Fie  was  a  man  that  would 
weigh  probably  145  pounds,  five  feet  nine,  prob 
ably  nine  and  a  half,  smooth  face,  no  emblems  that 
I  could  see,  but  was  very  anxious  about  getting 
into  that  hall. 

Soon  after  that  another  man  came  to  me  with 
the  same  request  and  wanted  to  know  if  I  knew  of 
any  way  he  could  get  in.  I  told  him  the  same  story. 

I  said,  "Where  are  you  from,  are  you  a  stran 
ger  here?" 

And  he  said:  "I  am  from  Ohio,"  but  I  do  not 
recall  what  place. 

I  returned  to  the  machine  and  had  it  all  ready 
when  the  ex- President  was  seen  coming  down  the 
stairs  to  the  door.  I  turned  on  the  power,  opened 
the  door  and  the  Colonel  came  right  along;  Capt. 


Ex-President  Theodore  Roosevelt          147 

Girard  was  right  near  him.  Martin  jumped  into 
the  machine  first,  and,  turning  his  back,  started  to 
assist  the  ex-President.  Capt.  Girard  stepped  up, 
as  he  has  described,  and  Henry  F.  Cochems  had  got 
in. 

Just  then,  right  to  my  side,  I  heard  the  very  low 
report.  I  hunt  a  great  deal  and  shoot,  and  the 
flash  of  a  gun  doesn't  scare  me  but  sets  me  instantly 
on  my  nerve. 

Quick  as  a  flash,  I  saw  this  man  with  his  arm 
about  so  (indicating). 

I  was  knocked  down  by  Capt.  Girard,  and 
when  I  sprang  to  my  knees  Capt.  Girard  and  Mar 
tin  were  on  top  of  Schrank. 

A  dark  man  took  Schrank's  arm;  he  looked  like 
a  laborer.  He  grabbed  him  and  seemed  to  be 
struggling  with  him.  The  laborer  got  hold  of 
Schrank  first;  I  think  the  captain  was  up  as  soon 
as  any  man. 

I  turned  to  the  Colonel  and  he  was  just  sitting 
in  his  seat.  Henry  F.  Cochems  put  his  arms  around 
him.  It  was  only  for  a  second  or  two,  and  the 
Colonel  rose  up  and  said: 

"Do  not  kill  him;  bring  him  here;  bring  him 
here." 

He  must  have  said  that  five  or  six  times  imme 
diately  after,  and  they  brought  the  man  back  and 
bent  his  head  back  on  the  back  of  the  machine. 


148  The  Attempted  Assassination  of 

The  ex-President  looked  into  his  eyes  for  a  second 
or  two  and  the  ex-President  shook  his  head,  and 
then  turned  away.  I  turned  to  the  ex-President 
and  I  said: 

"Colonel,  he  hit  you." 

He  said: 

uHe  never  touched  me;  he  never  touched  me." 

I  said: 

uYou  have  a  hole  in  your  coat,"  and  the  Colonel 
put  his  hand  to  his  side  and  said: 

"He  picked  me;  he  picked  me." 

This  did  not  scare  him.  Then  he  addressed  the 
crowd  and  said: 

"We  are  going  to  the  hall ;  we  are  going  to  the 
hall;  start  the  machine;  go  ahead;  go  on." 

After  we  got  up  and  turned  on  Wells  street,  we 
turned  up  about  a  block  and  a  half  and  the  doctor 
and  some  friend  opened  the  front  of  Roosevelt's 
coat,  and  he  turned  then  and  saw  the  blood.  Then 
he  turned  pale.  That  is  the  first  time  I  saw  him 
turn  pale  was  when  he  saw  that  blood.  Before  we 
got  to  the  Auditorium  he  had  recovered  as  far  as 
the  paleness  was  concerned.  He  was  immediately 
taken  into  a  side  room  there. 

(Mr.  Zabel) — Did  you  have  charge  of  taking 
the  tickets  at  the  Auditorium?. 

(Mr.  Taylor) — I  was  one  of  the  committee  the 
same  as  the  rest  of  the  people  that  were  around 


Ex-President  Theodore  Roosevelt          149 

there  with  badges  on;  I  had  given  out  some  tickets. 

What  strikes  me  as  peculiar  about  this  affair  is 
that  this  man  Schrank,  claiming  not  to  be  familiar 
with  the  use  of  firearms,  should  be  able  to  select 
the  kind  of  revolver  that  was  used,  a  38-caliber 
Colt  with  a  44  frame,  one  of  the  most  deadly  weap 
ons  made. 

I  may  explain  that  the  frame  being  large  en 
ables  the  shooter  to  have  a  more  deadly  aim.  The 
Colonel  also  remarked  the  same  thing  in  regard 
to  this  weapon,  38-caliber,  a  44  frame. 

Col.  Cecil  Lyon  held  the  gun  up  to  us  to  look 
at,  and  it  was  an  ugly  looking  weapon. 

*         *         * 

Reference:  It  will  be  noted  was  made  by 
members  of  the  Roosevelt  party  to  a  laboring  man 
who  struck  Schrank's  arm  as  he  fired,  and  who  was 
one  of  the  men  who  struggled  with  Schrank  im 
mediately  after  the  shot  was  fired.  That  man  was 
Frank  Buskowsky,  1140  Seventh  avenue,  Milwau 
kee.  In  an  interview  Buskowsky  said: 

"I  was  so  excited  when  I  realized  that  the  man 
next  to  me  had  shot  at  Roosevelt  that  I  felt  like 
killing  him,  and  I  cried  out  at  the  top  of  my  voice 
as  I  held  him,  'Kill  him,  kill  the  d--n  scoundrel.' 

"The  police  must  have  thought  that  I  meant 
Roosevelt,  for  when  one  of  them  came  up  to  me  he 


John  T.  Janssen,  Chief  of  Police. 


Ex-President  Theodore  Roosevelt          151 

yelled,  'What  in  h--l  is  the  matter  with  you?'  and 
hustled  me  away. 

"As  I  cannot  speak  good  English,  I  could  not 
explain  that  I  had  meant  Schrank  and  not  Roose 
velt.  I  was  so  excited  when  the  police  took  me 
away  that  way  that  I  went  immediately  home. 

"If  I  could  have  explained  myself  that  patrol 
man  would  have  heard  something  from  me  for  the 
way  he  clubbed  me  on  my  head.  My  hat  was 
smashed  in. 

"I  came  home,  disgusted  with  the  treatment  I 
had  received  by  the  police.  The  next  morning  I 
read  all  about  Martin  capturing  that  man  and  it 
made  me  mad,  for  I  was  the  first  one  to  grab  him 
and  prevent  him  from  shooting  any  more." 

Buskowsky  is  a  Bohemian  and  has  been  in 
America  seven  years,  during  which  period  he  has 
been  an  enthusiastic  supporter  of  the  Bull  Moose 
leader, 

Affidavits  corroborating  what  is  set  forth  in 
statements  presented  were  made  by  Donald  Fergu 
son,  of  Goldfield,  Nev.;  Arthur  W.  Newhall,  812 
State  street,  Milwaukee;  Jacques  R.  Thill,  574 
Jackson  street,  Milwaukee,  and  Sergeant  Albert  J. 
Murray,  Milwaukee  police  department,  and  Abra 
ham  Cohen,  519  North  avenue,  Milwaukee. 


CHAPTER  XIV. 
A  SECOND  EXAMINATION. 

Report  of  questions  propounded  by  District 
Attorney  Winifred  C.  Zabel,  of  Milwaukee  county, 
and  Wheeler  P.  Bloodgood,  to,  and  answers  given 
by,  John  Flammang  Schrank,  at  the  county  jail,  of 
the  county  of  Milwaukee,  Wis.,  in  the  presence 
of  Sheriff  Arnold,  Donald  Ferguson,  Francis  E. 
Davidson  and  others,  commencing  at  12:50  P.  M. 
on  the  16th  day  of  October,  1912.  Reported  by 
Alfred  O.  Wilmot,  court  reporter,  District  court, 
Milwaukee  county. 
Mr.  Zabel: 

While  you  were  living  in  New  York  what  news 
papers  did  you  read? 

A.  I  read  the  New  York  Herald  and  I  read 
the  New  York  World,  and  the  New  York  Staats- 
Zeitung,  a  German  paper. 

Q.    That  is  a  German  publication? 

A.    Yes,  sir. 

Q.    Is  that  a  morning  paper? 

A.    Yes,  sir;  also  evening  edition. 

Q.  Did  you  read  any  of  the  Hearst  publica 
tions? 

A.    No,  sir. 

Q.    The  New  York  American? 


Ex-President  Theodore  Roosevelt          153 

A.    No,  sir. 

Q.    New  York  Journal  ? 

A.    No,  sir. 

Q.  What  you  read  in  the  New  York  World 
and  what  is  the  other  news— 

A.    Herald. 

Q.  And  New  York  Herald  did  anything  you 
read  in  those  papers  impress  you  in  any  way? 

A.  Well,  it  did  in  a  way  impress  me,  that 
means,  I  thought  whatever  I  read  in  the  paper  was 
pretty  much  right,  what  the  people  were  talking 
about  this  building  of  the  new  party  and  deserting 
the  old  party.  You  can  read  that  in  the  newspapers 
and  that  is  what  I  read  and  it  must  be  right. 

Mr.  Bloodgood: 

Q.  Mr.  Schrank,  you  remember  I  examined 
you  at  some  length  on  Monday  evening  and  you 
spoke  of  the  New  York  Herald  and  New  York 
World  and  the  headlines  that  appeared  in  those 
papers,  and  that  you  have  been  reading  them  con 
stantly,  is  that  corect? 

A.    That  is  correct,  yes,  sir. 

Mr.  Zabei: 

Q.  Did  you  read  those  papers  for  the  political 
items  that  were  contained  in  them? 

A.  Well,  in  fact,  not  exactly  for  htat.  I  read 
the  papers  the  same  as  anybody  else,  and  naturally 


154  The  Attempted  Assassination  of 

things  like  those  I  took  interest  in  every,  and  the 
items  interested  me  in  those  articles. 

Q.  What  headlines  are  still  fresh  in  your  recol 
lection  which  you  read?  concerning  political— 

A.  Oh,  I  could  not  just  recall  anything.  Head 
lines  doesn't  amount  to  much.  It  is  now  and  then 
perhaps,  but  it  doesn't  amount  to  much.  It  is  just 
the  item  itself. 

Q.  Was  there  anything  you  read  in  those  pa 
pers  that  gave  you  any  distinct  impression  to  kill 
Roosevelt? 

A.  No,  sir;  not  at  all.  I  cannot  blame  the  pa 
pers  whatsoever.  I  have  done  what  I  done  on  my 
own  convictions. 

Q.  Well,  were  you  not  impressed  by  what  you 
read  in  the  New  York  papers  as  to  the  menace 
which  Mr.  Roosevelt  would  be  to  our  nation? 

A.  No,  sir;  not  by  the  papers,  hardly.  I 
thought  my  own  opinion  about  that. 

Q.  Do  you  remember  reading  anything  in 
those  papers  in  which  Mr.  Roosevelt  was  described 
either  as  a  tyrant  or  as  a  traitor? 

A.    Oh,  no. 

Q.    Or  his  ingratitude  or  words  to  that  effect? 

A.  No ;  there  might  have  been  a  few  criticisms 
that  says  I  am  It  Or  Me  and  I  and  that  is  about 
all,  but  that  doesn't  impress  much  on  anybody. 

Q.    When  you  say  that — You  started  to  say  be- 


Ex-President  Theodore  Roosevelt          155 

fore  that  you  were  much  opposed  to  Mr.  Roosevelt 
deserting  the  old  party  and  building  up  a  new 
party — What  old  party  did  you  have  in  mind? 

A.    The  Republican  party. 

Q.  Were  you  interested  in  the  Republican 
party? 

A.    No,  sir;  I  was  not  interested. 

Q.    Ever  vote  the  Republican  ticket? 

A.    Yes,  sir;  I  have  several  times. 

Q.    On  National  elections? 

A.    National  elections. 

Q.    Ever  vote  for  Mr.  Roosevelt? 

A.    No. 

Q.    Municipal  elections  were  you— 

A.    A  democrat. 

Q.    Democrat  for  what  particular  reason? 

A.  Well,  as  long  as  we  were'in  the  liquor  busi 
ness  there  in  New  York  it  was  almost  natural  that 
we  should  vote  the  Tammany  rule  because  every 
liquor  dealer  needs  protection. 

Q.    On  account  of  what? 

A.  Account  Sunday  law,  because  we  was  sell 
ing  Sundays  beer  that  wre  could  not  sell  unless  you 
belonged  to  that  organization.  You  will  have  the 
police  after  you  all  the  time.  I  suppose  you  know 
that  as  well— 

Q.    Did  you  ever  contribute? 


156  The  Attempted  Assassination  of 

A.  Well,  we  had  to  contribute  at  times — yes, 
sir.  There  would  be  a  different  way  to  contribute. 

Q.  Did  you  ever  give  money  to  the  organiza 
tion? 

A.    No,  not  to  the  organization. 

Q.    Or  to  the  police? 

A.  There  is  a  different  way  of  doing  that.  If 
you  didn't  do  it  willingly  of  course  there  would  be 
a  way.  They  will  be  around  one  of  those  nice  Sun 
days  and  arrest  you  and  naturally  there  will  be  two 
there  and  they  will  impress  a  charge  against  you 
in  a  manner  that  will  get  you  out  in  case  you  paid 
them.  I  have  been  doing  that  several  times,  gave 
each  one  five  dollar  bill  or  ten  dollar  bill  and  they 
won't  press  the  charge. 

Q.  This  money  was  to  be  used  for  what  pur 
pose? 

A.    That  I  could  not  tell. 

Q.  The  men  that  came  around  on  that  mission 
were  they  police  officers  or  politicians? 

A.  Well,  regular  officers,  specials,  what  takes 
these  Sunday — 

Sheriff  Arnold: 

Mr.  Zabel,  did  anybody  here  send  for  a  man 
named  Moss? 

Mr.  Bloodgood: 

Yes.    Send  him  in. 


Ex-President  Theodore  Roosevelt  157 

Q.  Did  you  ever  contribute  anything  to  the 
Republican  campaign  fund? 

A.    No,  sir;  I  had  no  reason. 

Q.  Was  ever  any  contribution  solicited  of  you 
by  Tammany  Hall  or  by  the  Police? 

A.    No,  sir. 

Q.  Now  isn't  it  a  fact  that  a  good  deal  of  your 
feeling  against  Roosevelt  was  created  by  what  you 
read  in  the  papers? 

A.    It  was  not  created,  no,  sir. 

Q.    Well,  was  it  to  a  large  measure  influential? 

A.  I  could  not  just  deny  that  it  had  some  in 
fluence  but  not  to  be  decisive. 

Q.    Not  decisive. 

A.    No,  sir. 

Q.  Didn't  it  make  you  feel  angry  and  un 
friendly? 

A.    Not  any  worse  than  what  I  was. 

Q.  Didn't  make  you  feel  any  worse  or  more 
unfriendly? 

A.    No,  sir. 

Q.    Toward  Roosevelt? 

Mr.  Bloodgood: 

Q.  How  long  have  you  been  reading  the  New 
York  Herald? 

A.    Oh,  I  believe  since  I  am  able  to  read. 

Q.    And  the  World? 

A.    Also. 


158  The  Attempted  Assassination  of 

Q.  Now  you  said  the  other  evening  that  papers 
you  principally  read  were  those  two — was  that  cor 
rect? 

A.    Correct. 

Q.  Now  did  you  read  them  during  August  of 
this  year.  You  were  in  New  York  then? 

A.    Yes,  sir. 

Q.  And  state  what  impressed  you  in  particular 
—what  you  saw  in  the  New  York  Herald  in  Au 
gust — at  about  that  time  of  the  formation  of  the 
new  progressive  party  in  Chicago? 

A.  Well,  in  fact  I  cannot  remember  much.  1 
could  not  be  very  much  impressed  by  the  New 
York  Herald  because  the  Herald  is  a  very  con 
servative  paper.  The  Herald  is  not  what  they  call 
the  Yellow  press  and  the  only  excuse  the  Herald 
had  is  simply  to  say,  Well,  the  Third  Termer,  that 
is  all. 

Q.  Now  what  in  the  New  York  World  im 
pressed  you  during  that  time? 

A.    From  that  time? 

Q.    During  that  time. 

A.  Well,  as  I  have  said  before,  there  was  no 
special  impression  nohow.  It  was  only  the  same  as 
anybody  else  could  read,  which  was  to  be  found  in 
the  editorials  or  the  man  was  building  up  a  new 
party  and  was  deserting  and  he  cries  that  he  stole 
the  nomination  away  from  him,  such  as  that;  as 


Ex-President  Theodore  Roosevelt          159 

anybody  else  would  read.  That  didn't  make  any 
serious  impression  on  me. 

Q.  Now,  when  did  you  write  out  these  state 
ments  that  was  in  your  pocket? 

A.    On  the  14th  of  September. 

Q.    Wrote  it  all  out  on  that  day? 

A.    Yes,  sir. 

Q.    Every  bit  of  it? 

A.    Yes,  sir. 

Q.  From  the  beginning  to  the  end?  Answer 
my  question. 

A.    Yes,  sir. 

Q.    Yes,  or  no? 

A.    Yes,  sir. 

Q.  And  the  very  statements  the  police  found 
in  your  pocket  was  written  by  you  and  all  of  it  on 
the  14th  day  of  September,  1912? 

A.    Yes,  sir. 

Q.  Now  in  your  pocket  was  found  a  statement 
in  regard  to  the  various  places  that  Col.  Roosevelt 
was  to  speak.  Where  did  you  get  that  from? 

A.  Oh,  every  day  in  the  papers.  Just  as  I  fol 
lowed  the  towns.  I  generally  bought  a  paper  there 
the  same  day  or  the  next  morning  and  that  would 
just  about  give  me  the  information  where  I  could 
meet  him  next. 

Q.  That  was  in  your  own  handwriting,  that 
statement? 


Mrs.  Theodore  Roosevelt. 

From  "Vanity  Fair" 


Ex-President  Theodore  Roosevelt          161 

A.    Yes,  sir. 

Q.  The  other  night  when  you  were  examined 
with  reference  to  that  you  said  you  hadn't  written 
it  out? 

A.    Which.    Written  out? 

Q.    That  statement  they  found  in  your  pocket. 

A.  That  I  hadn't  wrote  it  out?  Well,  who 
should  have  written  it  out? 

Q.  You  said  you  hadn't  written  it  out  in  your 
own  handwriting  or  on  the  typewriter? 

A.    On  the  typewriter. 

Q.    Is  that  in  your  own  hand? 

A.  Well,  in  the  first  place  I  cannot  handle  a 
typewriter  and  in  the  second  place  who  else  should 
furnish  that  or  who  else  should  write  it? 

Q.    That  was— 

A.  In  fact  I  suppose  if  you  compare  the  two  of 
them  there  must  be  some  likeness.  I  don't  profess 
that  I  write  the  same  all  the  time  or  every  time, 
but  I  think  that  was  written  on  one  day. 

Mr.  Zabel:    You- 

A.    I  think  it  is  one  and  the  same  writing. 

Q.  How  did  you  happen  to  compose  those  ar 
ticles? 

A.  Because  it  was  the  14th  of  September,  the 
day  McKinley  died  and  the  day  I  had  that  vision 
I  completed  my  will-power  that  I  was  going  to  do 
that  what  I  did. 


162  The  Attempted  Assassination  of 

Q.  You  made  up  your  mind  then? 

A.  Yes,  sir. 

Q.  There  wasn't  anything  you  read  in  any  pa 
pers  that  caused  you  to  do  that? 

A.  No,  sir. 

Q.  Where  was  it  you  wrote  those  articles? 

A.  In  New  York. 

Q.  In  your  room? 

A.  Yes,  sir. 

Q.  Ever  read  them  to  anyone? 

A.  No,  sir. 

Q.  Ever  mention  the  fact  of  having  written 
them  to  anyone? 

A.  No,  sir. 

Q.  Ever  show  them  to  anybody? 

A.  No,  sir. 

Q.  Anybody  help  you  compose  those  articles? 

A.  No,  sir. 

Q.  Ever  talk  to  anybody  before  that  that  you 
intended  to  do  that? 

A.  No,  sir;  no,  sir. 

Q.  Now,  how  was  it  you  come  here  from  Chi 
cago? 

A.  Chicago.    To  here? 

Q.  Yes.  Who  was  it  came  with  you  here  from 
Chicago? 

A.  Nobody  came  here  with  me. 

Q.  Wasn't  you  traveling  with  somebody? 


Ex-President  Theodore  Roosevelt          163 

A.    Indeed  not. 

Q.  Didn't  somebody  keep  you  posted  as  to 
where  he  was  going? 

A.  No,  not  at  all.  My  God  I  am  36  years  old 
and  I  am  not  crazy,  the  same  as  the  papers  has 
stated.  I  ought  to  be  able  to  follow— 

Q.  Did  you  attempt  to  get  tickets  to  get  in  the 
Auditorium? 

A.  No,  sir;  I  didn't.  I  waited  outside  in  front 
of  the  Auditorium.  Yes,  is  that  the  Auditorium  in 
Chicago — No,  that  is  the  Coliseum. 

Q.    Is  that — I  mean  in  Milwaukee? 

A.    No,  I  didn't  intend  to  go  there  at  all. 

Q.    Did  you  go  inside  of  the  Hotel  Gilpatrick? 

A.    No,  sir. 

Q.  Ever  talk  to  any  of  these  gentlemen  (re 
ferring  to  those  present)  ? 

A.  No,  sir;  to  none  of  them,  unless  they  have 
questioned  me  here  Monday,  I  don't  know.  I  have 
never  seen  them  before. 

Mr.  Bloodgood: 

Q.  Were  you  at  the  depot  at  about  quarter  of 
six  on  Monday  night? 

A.    On  what  depot? 

Q.  In  Milwaukee,  when  Mr.  Roosevelt  came 
to  Milwaukee. 

A.    No,  sir;  I  was  not. 

Q.    Where  were  you  at  quarter  to  six? 


164  The  Attempted  Assassination  of 

A.  Quarter  to  six.  I  was  standing  in  front  of 
the  Gilpatrick. 

Q.  Did  you  go  down  to  Chicago  and  North 
western  depot? 

A.  Chicago-Lake  Shore  depot — around  four 
o'clock,  but  not  later. 

Q.    And  how  long  did  you  stay  there? 

A.  I  didn't  go  to  the  depot — as  far  as  that  goes. 
I  went  to  the  last  street  and  I  walked  around  this 
way  up  to  the  hill  and  came  back  to  the  town.  I 
didn't  go  into  the  depot. 

Q.    What  time  was  that? 

A.    Four  o'clock,  I  believe  it  was. 

Q.    On  Monday  afternoon? 

A.    Yes,  sir. 

Q.    Now  you  left  New  York  on  what  date? 

A.    On  the  21st.    21st  of  September. 

Q.    Upon  what  railroad? 

A.    I  took  the  ship. 

Q.    What  transportation  company? 

A.    I  really  don't  know  which  it  was. 

Q.    Well,  what  dock  did  you  leave  from? 

A.  I  could  not  tell  you,  Mister,  what  dock.  I 
know  the  steamship's  name  was  Commache  (Com- 
manse,  so  pronounced). 

Q.    Where  bound  for? 

A.  For  Charleston.  No,  it  was  bound  in  fact 
for  Florida,  but  it  stopped  at  Charleston. 


Ex-President  Theodore  Roosevelt          165 

Q.    You  got  off  at  Charleston? 

A.    Yes,  sir. 

Q.    What  day  did  you  reach  Charleston? 

A.    I  reached  that  on  Monday — Monday,  I  be 
lieve  at  five  o'clock. 

Q.    In  the  afternoon? 

A.    In  the  afternoon ;  yes,  sir. 

Q.    Did  you  expect  Col.  Roosevelt  at  Charles 
ton? 

A.    No,  I  didn't. 

Q.    What    was    your    purpose    in    going    to 
Charleston? 

A.  Well,  my  original  intention  was  to  go  to 
New  Orleans,  and  reading  the  papers  I  found  that 
he  was  changing  his  way  of  traveling  and  so  this 
that  before  the  steamship  comes  to  New  Orleans 
why  I  wouldn't  be  following  him  there  any  more- 
he  would  be  gone,  so  I  thought  I  would  take 
Charleston  and  then  get  to  Atlanta,  perhaps  I  can 
meet  him  at  Atlanta. 

Q.    Where  did  you  stay  there? 

A.    At  a  boarding  house  by  the  name  of  Mosley 
House. 

Q.    Do  you  know  the  street? 

A.    I  believe  it  is  Merlin  street,  near  Main. 

Q.    How  long  did  you  stay  there? 

A.    I  stayed  there  Monday  and  I  stayed  there 
Tuesday,  I  think  I  did.    I  guess  I  left  the  next  day. 


166  The  Attempted  Assassination  of 

Q.  Well,  where  did  you  go  to  from  Charles 
ton? 

A.    Charleston  I  went  to  Augusta. 

Q.    Where  did  you  stay  at  Augusta? 

A.  At  Augusta  I  stayed  in  the  Planters  Hotel. 
I  have  got  it  in  that  slip,  if  I  make  a  mistake  it  ain't 
my  fault,  but  I  got  it  all  down  in  every  city  where 
I  stopped,  so  if  I  make  a  mistake— 

Q.  You  put  that  down  on  a  slip  from  time  to 
time? 

A.    Yes,  sir. 

Q.    As  you  went  along? 

A.  Yes,  sir.  I  might  make  a  mistake  now,  and 
you  think  I  am  making  you  a  false  statement. 

Q.  Did  you  meet  anyone  at  Charleston  whom 
you  knew? 

A.    No,  no;  I  was  a  perfect  stranger  there. 

Q.  Did  you  meet  anyone  at  Savannah,  Geor 
gia? 

A.    Augusta. 

Q.    Augusta? 

A.  No,  I  was  a  stranger  there.  At  every  place. 
I  didn't  know  anybody  to  go  to. 

Q.  Did  you  go  to  the  hotel  where  Col.  Roose 
velt  was  staying  at  those  places? 

A.  No,  I  didn't.  I  could  not  tell  where  he  was 
going  to  stop.  I  could  not  tell  that  every  time. 
Now  the  same  as  his  coming  from  New  Orleans  I 


Ex-President  Theodore  Roosevelt          167 

took  a  trip  down  to  Birmingham  I  thought  sure  he 
was  going  to  stop  at  Birmingham.  Instead  of  that 
he  changed  his  way  and  he  went  way  to  Macon, 
Georgia.  That  is  the  way  he  deceived  me  half  a 
dozen  times  after  it  was  advertised  that  I  could 
meet  him  there  and  there. 

Q.    What  day  did  you  get  to  Chicago? 

A.  Chicago.  I  arrived  if  I  ain't  mistaken,  now 
I  might  not  tell  the  truth  but  I  guess  it,  I  think  it 
was  Friday. 

Q.    Friday  morning? 

A.    Friday  dinner  time,  if  I  ain't  mistaken. 

Q.  Now  what  did  you  go  over  to  the  La  Salle 
Hotel  where  Col.  Roosevelt— 

A.  I  was  over  to  the  La  Salle,  but  not  in  the 
hotel. 

Q.    You  didn't  go  inside  of  the  hotel? 

A.    No,  sir. 

Q.    Where  did  you  stand? 

A.    On  the  street,  the  same  as  here,  on  the  street. 

Q.    In  front  of  the  entrance? 

A.    Yes,  sir. 

Q.  Waiting  to  hear  whether  he  was  coming 
out? 

A.  No,  I  didn't  wait  for  him  to  come  out  be 
cause  he  got  there  in  the  morning — I  think  he  did, 
in  the  morning,  yes,  at  ten  o'clock  he  got  there.  I 
seen  him  go  in  and  I  never  seen  him  go  out. 


168  The  Attempted  Assassination  of 

Q.  You  saw  him  go  out  or  go  in  at  ten  o'clock 
Saturday  morning? 

A.    Yes,  sir. 

Q.    Where  were  you  standing? 

A.    On  the  street  with  the  rest  of  the  crowd. 

Q.    Did  you  try  to  get  your  revolver  there? 

A.    No,  sir. 

Q.    What  prevented  you  from  drawing? 

A.  Well,  I  thought  it  is  his  reception  that 
might  have  a  bad  feeling  on  the  city  of  Chicago, 
giving  him  a  reception  like  that;  I  thought  I  might 
have  plenty  of  chance  to  get  at  him  later  on  if  it 
wouldn't  be  just  at  the  reception. 

Q.  Let  me  understand  you  what  prevented  you 
from  drawing. 

A.  I  says  because  it  was  the  reception — There 
was  so  many  people  receiving  him  and  I  suppose 
the  city  of  Chicago  would  like  to  give  him  a  decent 
respectable  reception.  It  would  look  awful  bad  if 
at  the  reception  he  would  have  got  shot  down,  I 
says  to  myself  that  wouldn't  go,  I  might  get  a  bet 
ter  chance. 

Q.  You  knew  there  was  a  death  penalty  in  Il 
linois? 

A.    No,  sir;  I  never  knew  anything  like  that. 

Q.  How  near  were  you  to  him  when  he  passed 
you  that  morning  at  the  La  Salle? 


Ex-President  Theodore  Roosevelt          169 

A.  How  near?  It  was  on  the  other  side  of  the 
street. 

Q.    Is  that  the  nearest  you  got  to  him? 

A.    Yes. 

Mr.  Zabel:  Did  you  carry  your  revolver  at 
that  time  in  your  pocket? 

A.    No. 

Q.    You  had  one  that  you— 

A.    In  here  (indicating  hip  pocket). 

Q.  Where  did  you  go — to  the  Coliseum — Why 
did  you  go  to  the  Coliseum  if  you  didn't  intend  to 
shoot  him  in  Chicago? 

A.  Indeed  I  did  intend  to.  I  am  just  telling 
you  I  didn't  intend  to  do  it  that  morning  when  he 
was  being  received  there.  I  thought  I  would  get  a 
better  chance. 

Q.  So  it  was  a  matter  of  chance  or  was  it  a  mat 
ter  of  your  wanting  to  kill  him  in  front  of  the 
hotel? 

A.    When  he  was  being  received? 

Q.  Do  you  mean  by  that  that  you  didn't  want 
to  kill  him  in  front  of  the  La  Salle  but  that  you 
were  perfectly  willing  to  kill  him  when  he  was 
away  ? 

A.  I  was  willing  to  kill  him,  that  is  all,  but  I 
was  I  just  wasn't  willing  to  kill  him  at  the  recep 
tion.  I  told  you  that  three  times  I  didn't  want  the 


W.  F.  Becker  William  F.  Wegge 

Members  of  Sanitv  Commission. 


Ex-President  Theodore  Roosevelt          171 

city  of  Chicago  to  feel  sore  that  a  stranger  comes 
along  at  the  beginning— 

Q.    Just  a  matter  of  the  time? 

A.    Yes,  sir. 

Q.  Now  that  he  had — That  was  Saturday 
morning? 

A.    Yes,  sir. 

Q.  Now  when  you  went — Did  you  go  to  the 
Coliseum? 

A.    Yes,  sir. 

Q.  Where  did  you  stand — How  near  were  you 
to  him? 

A.  Well,  as  near  as  I  could  get  in  the  crowd. 
As  near  as  the  crowd  let  me  get  there,  mostly  in 
the  middle  of  the  street. 

Q.  Well,  how  near  were  you  to  the  automo 
bile? 

A.  I  could  not  see  the  automobile  coming. 
They  came  in  a  different  way.  I  was  in  the  main 
entrance  and  they  came  on  the  side  way. 

Q.    You  were  standing  at  the  main  entrance? 

A.    Yes,  sir. 

Q.    Where  did  you  have  the  gun — here? 

A.    Here.    In  here. 

Q.    In  your  vest  pocket? 

A.  Yes,  sir.  Here  is  the  hole  (indicating  ex 
hibiting  a  hole  in  the  lower  left  hand  vest  pocket) . 

Q.    Right  through  here? 


172  The  Attempted  Assassination  of 

A.    And  down  in  the  trousers. 

Q.    And  you  were  waiting  at  the  main  en 
trance? 

A.    Yes,  sir. 

Q.    What  time  did  you  get  to  that  main  en 
trance? 

A.    I  could  not  tell  you  now,  sir. 

Q.    Well,  approximately. 

A.    Well,  perhaps  half  an  hour  before  he  came. 

Q.    You  were  right  by  the  portal  or  door? 

A.    No,  sir;  I  was  in  the  middle  of  the  street. 

Q.    You  intended  to  shoot  him  right  from  the 
street? 

A.    Yes,  sir. 

Q.    Now  then,  when  you  found  he  came  into 
the  other  entrance  what  did  you  do  then? 

A.    I  went  up.    I  could  not  do  nothing.    I  had 
to  wait  until  he  comes  out. 

Q.    Did  you  wait  until  he  came  out? 

A.    Yes,  sir. 

Q.    Where  did  you  wait? 

A.    At  the  main  entrance  again. 

Q.    And  you  were  there  then  when  the  speech 
was  over? 

A.    Yes. 

Q.    Did  you  get  near  him  then? 

A.    No,  I  didn't.    He  didn't  come  out  the  main 
entrance. 


Ex-President  Theodore  Roosevelt          173 

Q.  You  were  all  ready  to  shoot  him  then  at 
the  main  entrance? 

A.  Well,  I  was  there,  I  expected  him  to  come 
there. 

Q.  Now,  after  you  found  he  didn't  come  out 
through  the  main  entrance,  where  did  you  go? 

A.    Went  home. 

Q.  Went  to  the  hotel.  How  long  did  you  stay 
there  at  the  main  entrance? 

A.    Until  he  came  out. 

Q.  Well,  how  did  you  know  which  way  be 
would  come  out? 

A.  I  could  not  know — that  is  why  I  was — I 
was  at  the  main  entrance,  I  expected  him  to  come 
out  there. 

Q.  Where  were  you  standing  then,  in  the 
street? 

A.    Yes,  sir. 

Q.    By  the  automobile? 

A.  No.  I  was  standing  at  the  front  entrance. 
I  didn't  know  his  automobile.  Automobile  don't 
wait  all  the  time,  anyhow,  I  didn't  see  it  or  I  for 
got. 

Q.  Now  then,  where  did  you  learn  that  he  was 
coming  to  Milwaukee?  From  the  papers? 

A.    Yes,  sir. 

Q.    You  came  up  to  Milwaukee  at  what  hour? 

A.    Twelve  o'clock,  noon  time. 


174  The  Attempted  Assassination  of 

Q.  Now,  on  Monday  night,  did  you  go  and  in 
quire  of  the — Did  you  talk  to  Mr.  Moss,  who  is  in 
charge  of  one  of  those  automobiles? 

A.  Never  spoke  to  that  gentleman.  Never 
spoke  to  anybody. 

Q.  Did  you  go  up  and  ask  anyone  whether  Mr. 
Roosevelt  was  going  to  get  in  this  car? 

A.    No,  sir;  nothing  like  that. 

Q.  Now  there  was  a  big  car  right  back  of  this 
car  in  which  the  Colonel  was  when  you  shot  him— 
there  were  two  automobiles,  smaller  cars  in  which 
the  Colonel  got  and  a  larger  car  right  back  of  him. 

A.    Might  be. 

Q.  Well,  did  you  speak  to  the  chauffeur  in  the 
car  back  of  the  Colonel's  and  ask  him  whether  he 
was  going  to  sit  in  that  car? 

A.  I  didn't  do  anything  of  the  kind.  Didn't 
ask  anybody.  I  didn't  speak  to  anybody.  It  was 
always  my  principle  not  to  speak  to  anybody  unless 
a  man  bids  me  the  time  then  I  answer  him,  but  why 
should  I  speak  in  that  way? 

Q.  Now,  what  other  place  did  you  see  the 
Colonel  besides  in  Chicago,  in  front  of  the  La  Salle 
other  than  on  Monday  night? 

A.    I  saw  him  in  Chattanooga. 

Q.  Chattanooga,  Tenn.  Was  that  the  time  the 
automobile  was  going  so  fast? 

A.    Yes,  sir;  that  was  the  time. 


Ex-President  Theodore  Roosevelt          175 

Q.    How  near  were  you  to  him  then? 

A.  I  was  near  enough  whene  he  came  out  but 
I  could  not  stay  within  reach. 

Q.    You  were  standing  in  front  of  the  entrance? 

A.    In  front  of  the  entrance. 

Q.  With  your  revolver  ready  to  shoot  him 
then? 

A.    Yes,  sir;  I  was  always  ready  to  shoot  him. 

Q.  Now,  did  you  see  him  as  he  went  in  or 
came  out  that  day  at  Chattanooga? 

A.    When  he  came  out  the  entrance. 

Q.    After  he  finished  his  speech? 

A.    No,  I  didn't  go  there  to  see  him  there. 

Q.    But  you  say  you  saw  him  at— 

A.  I  saw  him  going  out  the  Chattanooga  de 
pot,  out  of  the  railroad  station,  going  to  his  hotel. 

Q.    At  the  railroad  station? 

A.    Yes,  sir. 

Q.  You  went  there  just  as  you  went  to  the  rail 
road  station  in  Milwaukee? 

A.    No,  I  didn't  go  to  Milwaukee. 

Q.  Well,  you  said  you  went  down  to  the  lake 
shore  station  at  four  o'clock? 

A.  Yes,  at  four  o'clock,  but  I  didn't  go  down 
there  to  see  him  coming  in. 

Q.  Now  at  Chattanooga  did  you  go  down  to 
the  railroad  station? 


176  The  Attempted  Assassination  of 

A.  No,  I  didn't  have  to  go  down.  I  just 
stopped  at  the  other  side  in  the  hotel. 

Q.    How  near  were  you  at  Chattanooga? 

A.    I  was  near  enough  to  shoot  him. 

Q.    Why  didn't  you  shoot  him  at  Chattanooga? 

A.  Well,  I  didn't  shoot  him  at  Chattanooga 
because  it  was  a  new  thing  to  me.  Ididn't  just 
exactly  have  courage  enough  to  do  it  and  he  started 
off  so  fast  in  his  automobile  and  I  thought  maybe 
there  is  a  better  chance. 

Q.  How  near  were  you  to  his  automobile  in 
Chattanooga? 

A.    Why,  from  there  to  there,  about  ten  feet. 

Q.  Were  you  as  near  as  you  were  the  other 
night? 

A.    Yes,  sir. 

Q.    Were  you  standing  in  the  street? 

A.    Yes,  sir. 

Q.    Did  you  start  to  draw  your  revolver  then? 

A.    No,  sir. 

Q.    Your  courage  left  you  then? 

A.    For  a  moment  it  did. 

Q.  Were  there  any  policemen  standing  around 
you  at  Chattanooga? 

A.  Yes,  there  was  some,  keeping  the  crowd 
back. 

Q.  And  were  you  on  the  sidewalk  or  in  the 
street? 


Ex-President  Theodore  Roosevelt          177 

A.    In  the  street,  off  of  the  entrance. 

Q.    Did  you  get  right  next  to  his  automobile? 

A.    No,  sir;  I  could  not  get  next— 

Q.    You  were  about  ten  feet  away  from  him? 

A.  Yes,  about  half  a  dozen  other  people  in 
front  of  me. 

Q.  And  your  courage  had  left  you  at  that 
time? 

A.    For  a  moment  it  did. 

Q.  When  his  automobile  started  off  did  you 
start  to  go  after  him? 

A.    No,  sir. 

Q.    Did  you  see  him  again  in  Chattanooga? 

A.    No,  sir. 

Q.  After  that  time.  Now,  when  did  you  see 
him  next  after  Chattanooga? 

A.  That  was  the  last  time  I  saw  him  until  in 
Chicago. 

Q.  Until  in  Chicago.  Did  you  see  him  any 
time  prior  to  the  time  you  saw  him  at  Chattanooga? 

A.    No,  sir. 

Q.  So  the  only  three  times  you  were  within 
reach  of  him  was  in  front  of  the  La  Salle  Hotel  in 
Chicago,  Saturday  morning? 

A.    Yes,  sir. 

Q.    And  at  the  Chattanooga  depot? 

A.    At  the  depot. 


178  The  Attempted  Assassination  of 

Q.  And  then  in  Milwaukee  Monday  night? 
Is  that  correct? 

A.    That  is  correct. 

Q.  And  since  the  21st  of  September  up  to  the 
14th  of  October  the  only  times  that  you  were  within 
reach  of  even  saw  the  Col.  Roosevelt  were  the  three 
times  you  have  mentioned? 

A.    Yes,  sir. 

Q.  Was  he  in  any  of  the  cities  you  were  in  at 
the  time  you  were  there  excepting  Chicago,  Chat 
tanooga  and  Milwaukee? 

A.  Not  at  the  time  I  was  there.  He  was  there 
either  before  or  after  me. 

Q.    So  those  were  the  only  three— 

A.  That  I  had  a  possible  chance  to  shoot  him, 
yes. 

Q.  Now  state  again,  when  he  was  at  the  La 
Salle  Hotel,  could  you  have  shot  him  then? 

A.    Yes,  sir. 

Q.  You  were  near  enough  to  have  shot  him  at 
the  La  Salle? 

A.    Yes,  sir. 

Q.  What  prevented  you  from  shooting  him, 
was  it  that  your  courage  gave  way? 

A.  No,  sir;  not  my  courage  didn't  give  way. 
As  I  said  I  didn't  want  to  do  it  because  it  is  his 
coming-in  reception — man  is  getting  there — I 


Ex-President  Theodore  Roosevelt          179 

didn't  want  to  do  it  for  that  sake.  1  thought  I'd 
get  a  better  chance. 

Q.  Was  it  because  of  the  fact  you  desired  a 
better  chance  or  you  didn't  want  to  do  it  on  that 
particular  occasion? 

A.  On  that  particular  occasion.  I  didn't  want 
to  do  it.  Yes,  sir. 

Q.  And  at  Chattanooga  it  was  a  matter  of  per 
sonal  courage  with  you — your  nerve  failed  you? 

A.    Just  for  a  moment  it  failed  me,  yes,  sir. 

Q.  Have  you  been  accustomed  to  using  fire 
arms? 

A.    No. 

Q.    Had  you  ever  shot  a  revolver? 

A.  I  have  shot  a  revolver  several  times  during 
the  4th  of  July,  that  is  about  all,  but  I  never  han 
dled  it  much.  I  don't  know  how  to  shoot.  I  didn't 
know  whether  I  shot  the  man  or  not. 

Q.  How  was  it  you  got  a  44  frame  for  a  38- 
caliber  gun? 

A.    44  frame? 

Q.    For  a  38-caliber  gun? 

A.  Well,  my  dear  man,  you  know  more  about 
a  gun  than  I  do.  I  don't  know  anything  about  that. 
I  bought  that  in  that  place  that  is  a  gun  shop  and 
they  got  all  new  ware  and  he  told  me  it  was  a 
38-caliber  and  I  paid  $14.  Whatever  the  housing 
of  it  was  I  don't  know. 


Hotel  Gilpatrick. 


Ex-President  Theodore  Roosevelt          181 

Q.  You  speak  of  housing — you  are  familiar 
with  revolvers? 

A.    You  are  telling  me  a  44  casing. 

Q.    That  is  what  you  call  a  housing? 

A.  Well,  that  is  what  I  meant — that  is  what  I 
understand — casing — unless  you  mean  the  box 
where  it  was  laying  in. 

Q.  No,  I  am  talking  about  the  housing- 
frame? 

A.  I  never  knew  they  could  use  a  38  on  a 
larger  casing,  could  they?  How  is  it  possible  that 
they  can  have  a  38  cartridge  in  a  44,  in  a  larger 
casing  than  that? 

Q.    Well,  that  is  what  you  did — 44  frame? 

A.    You  found  a  different  revolver  than  mine. 

Q.  Who  did  you  discuss  the  question  of  the 
formation  the  character  of  revolver.  Who  did  you 
talk  with  over  that? 

A.    What? 

Q.    As  to  what  sort  of  a  revolver  to  buy? 

A.  To  nobody.  I  didn't  have  to  talk  to  no 
body. 

Q.    How  did  you  happen  to  get  the  38? 

A.    I  asked  for  it. 

Mr.  Zabel: 

Q.    Why  didn't  you  ask  for  a  32? 

A.  I  don't  know.  I  tell  you  the  other  one  I 
had  home  was  a  38. 


182  The  Attempted  Assassination  of 

Q.    Oh,  you  had  another  one  home? 

A.  Oh,  not  now,  that  is  years  ago.  If  I  had 
that  home  I  didn't  have  to  buy  it.  I  got  the  thing 
in  storage.  It  is  in  the  storage  house  if  you  want 
to  get  it.  Stored  with  the  stuff. 

Q.    Where  is  your  stuff  stored? 

A.    In  New  York. 

Q.    Whereabouts? 

A.    80th  street,  I  guess,  and  Third  avenue. 

Q.    Well,  what  warehouse? 

A.  Well,  you  got  to  wait  now  until  my  grip 
comes  here  from  Charleston.  I  got  the  whole 
thing. 

Q.    Have  you  sent  for  your  grip? 

A.  I  don't  know.  You  gentlemen — told  me 
that  you  are  tending  to  that. 

Q.  Can't  you  give  us  the  name  of  the  ware 
house? 

A.    I  could  not  give  it  to  you  now. 

Q.    What  have  you  stored  there? 

A.  Five-room  furniture  from  the  old  folks  of 
mine. 

Q.    And  your  revolver? 

A.  Why,  everything,  of  course,  that  belongs  to 
the  house. 

Q.    How  long  had  you  had  that  revolver? 

A.    I  don't  know.    I  could  not  tell  you. 

Q.    Are  you  sure  it  is  stored  there? 


Ex-President  Theodore  Roosevelt          183 

A.  Unless  they  stole  it.  I  know  I  stored  it 
there. 

Q.  Did  you  have  a  receipt  for  the  different 
articles  you  stored  there? 

A.  Sure.  I  can  show  you  that  as  soon  as — but 
of  course  the  revolver  is  not  marked  on  that  because 
the  revolver  is  in  one  of  the  drawers,  I  suppose. 

Q.  You  don't  know  when  you  got  that  re 
volver? 

A.    I  could  not  tell  you. 

Q.    Have  you  ever  shot  it? 

A.  I  shot  it,  I  believe  twice  or  three  times  dur 
ing  the  4th  of  July  celebration  out  in  the  yard. 

Q.    Had  you  ever  shot  this  revolver? 

A.    No,  sir. 

Q.  You  shot  it  the  other  night.  Where  did  you 
buy  the  bullets  that  went  in  that  gun? 

A.    The  same  place  with  the  gun. 

Q.    How  many  cartridges  did  you  have? 

A.  Did  I  have?  Well,  I  bought  a  box  of  them 
and  paid  55  cents  for  it. 

Q.    Where  are  the  rest  of  the  cartridges? 

A.    They  are  in  the  grip. 

Q.    Oh,  they  are  in  your  grip  in  Charleston? 

A.    As  soon  as  it  comes  over  you  can  see  it  all. 

Q.    You  didn't  bring  extra  cartridges  with  you? 

A.  Yes,  sir;  I  had.  I  took  some  out.  I  had 
five  in  the  gun  and  I  had  six  with  me  in  my  pocket. 


184          The  Attempted  Assassination  of 

Q.    Did  they  find  those? 

A.    They  have  got  it  in  the  police  station. 

Q.  They  have  got  those  cartridges  in  the  police 
station.  Now,  who  hit  your  arm — did  somebody 
hit  your  arm? 

A.    I  don't  think  so. 

Q.  When  you  were  coming — who  was  the  first 
man  to  get  hold  of  you — that  great  big  man? 

A.  I  could  not  say  who  it  was.  I  simply  shot 
and  I  don't  know  whether  I  hit  the  man  or  not  or 
whom  I  hit,  but  I  know  the  first  thing  I  went  down 
and  a  whole  lot  on  top. 

Q.  When  you  aimed  the  revolver  at  Roosevelt 
was  there  anybody  standing  on  each  side  of  you? 

A.    Yes. 

Q.  Did  you  stick  the  gun  between  the  heads  of 
two  people? 

A.    Yes. 

Q.    Did  you  say  any  word? 

A.    No,  sir. 

Q.    When  you  fired? 

A.    No,  sir;  I  said  nothing. 

Q.  Talk — Did  you  try  to  pull  the  trigger 
again? 

A.    No,  sir. 

Q.  You  were  knocked  down  before  you  could 
pull  it  again? 

A.    Yes,  sir;  I  was. 

\ 


Ex-President  Theodore  Roosevelt          185 

Q.    You  would  have  pulled  it  again? 

A.    Perhaps  I  would.    I  don't  know. 

Q.  Well,  now  in  your  grip  have  you  any  liter 
ature — any  papers? 

A.  I  have  a  book  in  there,  yes,  a  memorandum 
book. 

Q.  Did  you  have  any  newspapers  which  you 
carried  about — did  you  cut  out  clippings  out  of  the 
newspapers? 

A.    Oh  no,  no.    I  didn't  do  it. 

Q.  Did  you  have  any  record  that  Col.  Roose 
velt  that  you  cut  out  of  his  acts  when  he  was  com 
missioner  of  police? 

A.  Oh  no,  no.  You  think  I'd  carry  that  here, 
if  I  wanted  to  carry  that  with  me  ever  since  1893 
when  he  was  commissioner — you  are  crazy  or  I 
must  have  a  whole  book. 

Q.    Well,  did  you  keep  any? 

A.  No,  sir;  nothing  at  all.  I  didn't  take  that 
much  interest. 

Q.  How  do  you  mean,  you  didn't  take  that 
much  interest? 

A.  I  didn't  feel  that  way  about  him  then  when 
he  was  police  commissioner. 

Q.  When  did  you  first  commence  to  feel  that 
way? 

A.    I  felt  it  in  Chicago. 

Q.    That  was  the  first  time? 


186  The  Attempted  Assassination  of 

A.    The  first  time,  yes,  sir. 

Q.    When  was  that? 

A.  In  fact,  the  first  time  I  felt  against  him  was 
when  I  had  that  dream  against  him  the  time  Mc- 
Kinley  died  and  then  I  thought  I  really  could  not 
believe  in  dreams,  I  could  not  go  to  work  and 
shoot  a  man  down  because  all  dreams  don't  come 
true. 

Q.    When  was  that? 

A.  That  was  the  same  night  or  the  evening  that 
Mr.  McKinley  died. 

Q.    How  long  did  you  feel  that  way  about  it? 

A.  I  felt  about  it.  Well,  have  at  least  two 
weeks. 

Q.    Did  you  see  Col.  Roosevelt  at  that  time? 

A.    No,  sir. 

Q.    Did  you  go  to  Washington? 

A.    No,  sir. 

Q.    Did  you  follow  him  about  at  all? 

A.    No,  sir. 

Q.  Had  you  ever  seen  him  personally  prior  to 
the  time— 

A.    No,  sir. 

Q.  Had  you  ever  seen  him  when  he  was  in 
New  York? 

A.    No,  sir. 

Q.  When  was  the  first  time  you  ever  saw  Col. 
Roosevelt? 


Ex-President  Theodore  Roosevelt          187 

A.    At  Chicago.    In  Chattanooga. 

Q.  At  Chattanooga.  The  first  time  you  ever 
saw  him? 

A.    Yes,  sir. 

Q.  Personally  the  first  time  you  were  ever 
near  him? 

A.    Yes,  sir. 

Q.  You  mean  to  say  all  the  time  you  were  liv 
ing  in  New  York  and  the  times  he  has  been  going 
back  and  forth  from  New  York  you  have  never 
seen  him  at  all? 

A.    No,  sir. 

Q.    Did  you  ever  go  out  to  Oyster  Bay? 

A.    No,  sir. 

Q.    Did  you  ever  go  over  to  the  Outlook  office? 

A.    I  don't  know  where  that  is. 

Q.  Well,  that  is  a  publication — Mr.  Abbott's 
weekly  publication  in  New  York. 

A.  I  don't  know  where  it  is.  I  could  not  even 
find  it.  I  know  quite  some  streets  in  town,  in  the 
neighborhood.  I  have  never  been  interested  in 
that.  I  didn't  know  that  Roosevelt  had  anything 
to  do  with  the  Outlook  at  all. 

Q.  Well,  you  knew  where  his  office  was  in 
New  York? 

A.    Whose  office? 

Q.    Col.  Roosevelt. 

A.    At  the  time  he  was  police  commissioner? 


188  The  Attempted  Assassination  of 

Q.  No,  since  he  was  president — he  has  been 
going  back  and  forth  in  New  York — 

A.    Since  he  has  been  on  his  third  term  here. 

Q.  I  say  he  has  been  back  and  forth  in  New 
York? 

A.    How  could  I  know  his  office? 

Q.  While  he  was  in  New  York  after  the  meet 
ing  of  the  Progressive  party  in  Chicago  you  knew 
that,  didn't  you? 

A.  I  don't  think  so.  I  thought  he  was  to 
Oyster  Bay.  I  don't  think  that  I  ever  read  of  it 
that  he  was  in  New  York  city. 

Q.    He  went  to  his  office  to  the  Outlook  office? 

A.    I  have  never  been  looking  for  him  then,  sir. 

Q.    You  weren't  looking  for  him  then? 

A.  No,  sir;  I  wouldn't  know  where  to  find  his 
office. 

Q.  When  you  read  of  the  formation  of  the 
party  in  Chicago  what  papers  did  you  read  that  in? 

A.    The  same  papers. 

Q.    New  York  Herald  and  the  World? 

A.    Yes,  sir. 

Q.  What  you  read  about  it  then,  did  that  rouse 
you  up  to  anger  at  all? 

A.  Well,  not  exactly  anger  but  I  was  getting 
more  and  more  convinced  that  this  man's  ambitions 
is  nothing  else  but  a  blow  to  McKinley's  death  and 


Ex-President  Theodore  Roosevelt          189 

he  wants  to  get  a  third  term  and  he  shouldn't  have 
it,  and  that  is  all. 

Q.    When  did  you  make  up  your  mind  to  that 
—in  August? 

A.  I  made  up  my  mind  pretty  much  in  August 
and  then  I  was  corroborated  during  the  vision  I 
had  on  the  14th  day  of  September. 

Q.  When  you  say  you  made  your  mind  up 
pretty  much  in  August  after  the  meeting  of  the 
party,  what  do  you  mean  by  that,  that  you  thought 
of  killing  him  then? 

A.    Yes,  sir,  I  thought  of  killing  him  then. 

Q.  In  August.  Had  you  made  any  plans  then 
to  kill  him? 

A.    No,  I  had  made  none  until  the  14th. 

Q.  And  you  thought  then  of  doing  this  same 
thing? 

A.  I  thought  about  it,  yes,  sir;  although  I  was 
making  up  my  mind  as  to  how  or  whether  I  would 
do  it  and  I  thought  about  it. 

Q.  What  time  in  August  was  that  that  you 
thought  about  it — just  after  you  read  in  the  papers? 

A.    Yes,  sir. 

Q.    After  the  formation  of  the  party? 

A.  After  the  formation  of  the  party — wasn't 
that  the  7th  of  August? 


Schrank  in  County  Jail. 


Ex-President  Theodore  Roosevelt.          191 

Q.  What  particular  thing  in  the  accounts  of 
the  papers  impressed  you  at  that  time  that  gave  you 
or  caused  you  to  make  up  your  mind? 

A.  Nothing  particular  but  simply  the  fact  that 
he  built  the  new  party;  that  he  was  going  to  take  a 
third  term  presidentship. 

Q.  Did  you  have  any  grip  with  you  when  you 
went  to  Chicago? 

A.    No,  sir. 

Q.  You  had  no  baggage  when  you  went  to  that 
hotel? 

A.  I  never  had  any  baggage  since  I  left  it  in 
Charleston. 

Q.    Bought  no  underwear? 

A.  Yes,  I  bought  underwear,  certainly,  and  I 
threw  the  old  underwear  away. 

Mr.  Zabel :    I  think  that  is  all. 


CHAPTER  XV. 
REPORT  OF  THE  ALIENISTS. 

The  report  of  the  sanity  commission  follows : 
To  the  Honorable  A.  C.  Backus,  Judge  of  the  Municipal  Court 

of  Milwaukee  County: 

Pursuant  to  your  appointment  of  the  undersigned  on  the 
12th  day  of  November,  1912,  as  a  Commission  to  examine  John 
Schrank  with  reference  to  his  present  mental  condition,  we  re 
spectfully  submit  our  report. 

This  report  consists  if : 

First:  The  examination  of  John  Schrank  with  reference  to 
his  personal  and  family  history,  his  present  physical  state,  and 
his  present  mental  state. 

Second:  Inquiry  by  means  of  data  furnished  by  the  New 
York  Police  Department,  the  Magistrate  of  Erding,  Bavaria, 
reports  furnished  by  the  Milwaukee  Police  Department  and 
other  officials  brought  in  contact  writh  him,  and  certain  docu 
ments  furnished  by  the  defendant  himself,  and  others  found  in 
his  possession,  some  of  which  are  herewith  submitted  as  ex 
hibits,  duly  numbered. 

Third :    Summary  and  conclusions  arrived  at. 

PERSONAL    AND    FAMILY    HISTORY. 

Age  36.  Single.  Born  in  Erding,  Bavaria,  March  5,  1876. 
Father  born  in  Bavaria,  and  mother  born  in  Bavaria.  Occupa 
tion,  bar  tender  and  saloonkeeper.  No  regular  occupation  in 
the  last  one  and  one-half  years.  Education,  common  schools  in 
Bavaria  from  the  seventh  to  the  twelfth  year;  three  or  four 
years  in  night  school  in  New  York,  in  English. 

In  early  life  a  Roman  Catholic;  not  a  practical  Catholic 
for  the  past  15  years. 

His  father  died  at  the  age  of  38  of  consumption;  was  a 
moderate  drinker;  the  mother  living  at  the  age  of  56  or  57. 
One  brother  and  one  sister  living,  in  good  health.  One  brother 
and  one  sister  died  in  infancy. 

A  sister  of  mother  insane,  suffered  from  delusions  of  persecu 
tion;  died  of  softening  of  the  brain,  so-called,  in  1904,  in  Gaber- 
see  Asylum,  Bavaria.  Certified  by  Magistrate  of  Erding, 
Bavaria. 


Ex-President  Theodore  Roosevelt          193 

Patient  states  he  was  never  seriously  sick.  Knows  of  no 
serious  accident  or  injury.  Never  suffered  from  headaches. 

Lived  with  grandparents  from  three  to  nine  years  of  age; 
worked  in  a  vegetable  garden  during  that  time,  and  then  re 
turned  to  parents.  HABITS 

Denies  excesses ;  no  use  of  tobacco  until  two  years  ago,  never 
more  than  five  or  six  cigars  a  day,  average  two  or  three  cigars. 
Has  generally  taken  about  five  pint  bottles  of  beer  in  twenty- 
four  hours,  of  late  years.  For  two  years,  in  1902-1903,  drank 
no  intoxicants  at  all.  He  states  he  drank  to  slight  excess  at 
most  half  a  dozen  times  a  year.  Never  used  drugs  of  any  kind. 
Denies  all  venereal  diseases,  and  presents  no  physical  evidence 
of  them.  His  usual  habit  was  to  retire  before  10  o'clock  at 
night. 

PRESENT  PHYSICAL  STATE. 

Height  5  feet  4^  inches  in  stocking  feet.  Weight,  160 
pounds,  with  clothing.  Is  right-handed.  Head  presents  no 
scars  or  injuries  or  evidence  of  injuries  or  irregularities  of 
cranial  bones;  normal  in  shape,  except  measurements  over  left 
parietal  bone  from  ear  to  median  line  at  vertex  is  1.25  centi 
meters  larger  than  the  right.  Cephalic  index  80.  Cranial 
capacity  normal.  External  ears  normal  in  shape.  Holds  head 
slightly  tilted  to  left.  Shape  of  hard  palate,  mouth  and  teeth 
normal.  Maxillary  bones  normal  except  lower  jaw  slightly 
prognathic.  Blonde  hair.  Eyes,  bluish  gray.  Complexion  fair. 
Tongue,  slight  yellowish  coating,  edges  clean.  Appetite  and 
general  nutrition  good.  Stomach,  digestion,  bowels  normal. 
Sleep  good.  State  of  heart  and  arteries  normal.  Blood  pres 
sure  125  to  130  systolic;  115  to  120  diastolic.  Pulse  82-86. 
Temperature  Nov.  12,  1912,  P.  M.,  99.4.  Nov.  14,  normal. 
No  scars  on  genitals.  Urine  practically  a  normal  specimen. 

NEUROLOGICAL. 

The  Eyes — Light,  accommodation  and  sympathetic  reflex 
present,  but  somewhat  slow.  Slight  inequality  of  pupils,  right 
distinctly  larger  than  left.  Color  sense  normal.  No  contrac 
tion  of  visual  field.  Slight  horizontal  nystagmus  in  both  eyes  on 
extreme  outward  rotation  of  the  eyeballs.  (Pupils  equal  and 
normal  Nov.  20th,  1912.) 


194  The  Attempted  Assassination  of 

After  above  symptoms  ascertained,  1.40  grain  euphthalmine 
inserted,  and  examination  of  eye  grounds  showed  no  optic 
atrophy.  The  right  eye  ground  (retina)  was  slightly  higher  in 
color  than  the  left. 

Hearing  very  acute,  both  sides. 

Sense  of  taste  and  smell  normal. 

Tactile,  pain,  temperature  and  weight  sense  normal. 

Deep  Reflexes — Knee,  reflex,  right,  irregularly  present, 
regular  on  reinforcement;  knee,  left,  absent;  brought  out  by 
reinforcement  irregularly. 

Myotatic  irritability  of  forearm,  right  markedly  heightened ; 
left  slightly  heightened. 

No  ankle-clonus. 

Superficial  Reflexes — Abdominal  reflex  present.  Epigastric 
reflex  absent.  Cremasteric  reflex,  active  both  sides.  No  Oppen- 
heim  reflex.  No  Babinski  reflex.  Plantar  reflex :  right  markedly 
heightened ;  left  heightened. 

Musculature — Arm  and  leg  showed  slightly  diminished 
power  on  right  side.  The  left  side  stronger,  though  subject 
right-handed. 

Dynamometer,  right  90,  90  (two  tests)  ;  and  left  100,  100 
(two  tests). 

No  Romberg  symptom,  and  no  inco-ordination  of  upper  and 
lower  extremities. 

Gait  and  station  normal. 

Slight  tremor  of  fingers,  noticeable  under  mental  excite 
ment.  At  times  slight  tremor  of  lips. 

EXAMINATION    OF    PRESENT   MENTAL   STATE. 

Tests  for  attention  show  normal  conditions. 

Tests  for  memory,  general  and  special,  show  normal  con 
ditions. 

Tests  for  association  of  ideas  and  words  showed  special  bear 
ing  upon  his  delusional  state. 

Logical  power  good,  except  as  limited  by  his  delusions. 

Judgment  the  same. 

Has  no  "insight"  as  to  his  own  mental  condition. 

Emotional  tests  show  tone  of  feeling  exalted. 

Orientation  correct  as  to  time  and  place. 

Delusions  present,  as  subsequently  set  forth. 


CHAPTER  XVI. 
FINDING  OF  THE  ALIENISTS. 

We  find  that  John  Schrank  came  to  New  York  at  the  age 
of  12,  and  lived  with  his  uncle  and  aunt  as  foster  parents,  who 
kept  a  saloon  at  370  East  Tenth  street,  New  York  City. 

Before  coming  to  this  country  he  had  5  years  of  the  public 
schools  of  his  native  village  in  Bavaria,  and  after  arrival  in  this 
country  his  only  schooling  was  such  as  he  could  obtain  at  night 
schools  in  New  York  during  3  or  4  years. 

Up  to  this  time  no  peculiarity  had  been  observed  in  him, 
from  any  evidence  available.  We  note  the  fact  that  he  was  most 
especially  interested  in  history  and  government,  as  illustrated 
by  political  writings  and  by  the  Bible.  He  speaks  frequently 
of  his  very  great  admiration  for  the  character  of  George  Wash 
ington. 

At  15  or  16  years  of  age  he  became  greatly  interested  in 
poetry.  This  perhaps  corresponds  to  the  period  of  development 
at  which  eccentricities  are  wont  to  appear. 

He  represents  that  in  the  saloon  in  which  he  worked  he  was 
chiefly  engaged  in  supplying  beer  to  residents  of  neighboring 
tenements ;  that  there  was  no  gambling  or  other  immoral  conduct 
practiced  or  encouraged  in  this  business  place.  He  went  on  for 
over  12  years  as  barkeeper.  His  uncle  and  aunt  had  during  this 
time  accumulated  means  for  the  purchase  of  a  small  tenement. 
At  the  death  of  the  uncle  and  aunt  in  1910  and  1911  the  de 
fendant  came  into  possession  of  this  property. 

In  the  last  year  and  a  half  has  not  been  in  any  regular  busi 
ness  or  employment,  and  spent  his  time  in  long  walks  about  New 
York  and  Brooklyn,  during  which  he  meditated  upon  poetical 
compositions,  and  political  and  historical  questions,  jotting  down 
ideas  upon  loose  slips  of  paper  as  they  came  to  him,  night  or  day, 
forming  the  basis  of  his  poems.  He  spent  his  evenings  in  a 
saloon,  retiring  early.  The  average  daily  quantity  of  stimulants 
or  beer  taken  by  him  was  insufficient  to  produce  intoxication. 
He  also  states  that  in  1902  and  1903,  for  a  period  of  nearly  2 
years,  he  drank  no  intoxicants  at  all. 


196  The  Attempted  Assassination  of 

He  states  that  in  1901,  between  1  and  2  o'clock  in  the 
morning  of  the  day  after  President  McKinley's  death  he  expe 
rienced  a  vivid  dream,  in  which  he  appeared  to  be  in  a  room 
with  many  flowers  and  a  casket,  and  saw  a  figure  sit  up  in  the 
casket,  which  he  says  was  the  form  and  figure  of  the  assassinated 
President  McKinley,  who  then  pointed  to  a  corner  of  the  room, 
and  said,  "Avenge  my  death."  He  then  looked  where  the  finger 
pointed  and  saw  a  form  clad  in  a  Monkish  garb,  and  recog 
nized  the  form  and  face  of  this  individual  as  the  form  and  face 
of  Theodore  Roosevelt. 

At  the  time  this  made  a  strong  impression,  but  was  not 
dwelt  upon  especially  except  in  the  light  of  later  events. 

Prior  to  the  nomination  of  Colonel  Roosevelt  for  the  Presi 
dency  in  the  year  1912,  he  had  felt  great  interest  in  the  political 
campaign,  and  had  read  articles  expressing  great  bitterness  to 
ward  the  idea  of  a  third  term,  and  toward  Colonel  Roosevelt 
personally  in  the  newspapers  of  New  York,  and  after  the  period 
when  the  nomination  of  Colonel  Roosevelt  began  to  be  actively 
agitated,  meditated  more  deeply  upon  these  matters.  He  had 
always  studied  with  the  greatest  interest  the  questions  of  free 
government,  as  illustrated  by  the  Declaration  of  Independence, 
and  Washington's  Farewell  Address.  In  this  connection,  the 
Monroe  doctrine  also  assumed  great  importance  in  his  mind, 
and  the  converse  thereof,  the  duty  of  this  nation  to  refrain  from 
war  of  conquest;  and  out  of  these  meditations  grew  what  he 
elaborated  into  his  declaration  as  to  the  unwritten  laws,  or 
"The  Four  Pillars  of  our  Republic,"  namely  (1)  the  Third 
Term  Tradition,  (2)  the  Monroe  Doctrine,  (3)  that  only  a 
Protestant  by  creed  can  become  president,  (4)  no  wars  of  con 
quest.  This  document,  hereunto  annexed  as  Exhibit  1,  fully  sets 
forth  his  views  on  these  subjects. 

These  "four  unwritten  laws"  had  assumed  in  his  mind  a 
character  of  sacredness.  They  were  "sacred  traditions"  to  be 
maintained  at  all  hazards,  and,  as  subsequently  appeared,  even 
the  hazard  of  life. 

The  following  are  some  quotations  from  this  document: 

"Tradition  is  an  unwritten  law." 

"I  would  doubt  the  right  of  a  court  to  have  jurisdiction 
over  a  man  who  had  defended  tradition  of  his  country  against 
violation." 


Ex-President  Theodore  Roosevelt          197 

"The  oldest  of  these  traditions  is  the  'third  term  tradition,' 
it  has  never  been  violated  and  is  an  effective  safeguard  against 
unscrupulous  ambition,  but  never  before  has  been  established  a 
test  case  of  its  inviolability  as  a  warning  to  coming  adventurers." 

"For  the  first  time  in  American  history  we  are  confronted 
by  a  man  to  wrhom  practically  nothing  is  sacred,  and  he  pretends 
to  stand  above  tradition." 

"Anybody  wrho  finances  a  Third  Term  Movement  should  be 
expatriated  and  his  wealth  confiscated." 

"The  dangers  in  this  campaign  are  these,  the  third  termer  is 
sure  that  the  nomination  has  been  stolen,  and  that  the  country 
and  the  job  belongs  to  him,  therefore,  if  he  gets  honestly  de 
feated  in  November  he  will  again  yell  that  the  crooks  of  both 
parties  have  stolen  the  election  and  should  he  carry  a  solid  West, 
he  and  the  hungry  office-seekers  would  not  hesitate  to  take  up 
arms  to  take  by  force  what  is  denied  him  by  the  people,  then 
we  face  a  Civil  War,  ******  and  that  he  who  wilfully 
invites  war  deserves  death.  We  would  then  be  compelled  to 
wash  out  the  sin  of  violating  the  Third  Term  with  the  blood  of 
our  sons.  Yet  this  is  not  the  gravest  danger  we  are  facing. 
We  have  allowed  an  adventurer  to  circumtravel  the  Union  with 
military  escort  with  the  torch  of  revolution  in  his  hands  to  burn 
down  the  very  house  we  live  in." 

"Have  we  learned  no  lesson  about  a  one  man's  rule  expe 
rienced  in  France  with  such  disastrous  results  as  the  end  of  the 
reign  of  Napoleon  I  and  Napoleon  III." 

"Are  we  trying  to  establish  here  a  system  like  our  ancestors 
have  done  in  Europe,  which  all  revolutions  of  a  thousand  years 
could  not  abolish." 

"Are  we  overthrowing  our  Republic,  while  the  heroes  of  the 
French  revolutions,  and  the  martyrs  of  1848  gladly  gave  their 
lives  to  establish  Republican  institutions." 

"The  abolition  of  the  Third  Term  tradition  is  the  abolition 
of  the  Monroe  doctrine  also." 

"Hardly  any  revolution  has  started  without  pretending  that 
their  movement  was  progressive." 

"The  prudence  of  our  forefathers  has  delivered  to  us  an 
equally  sacred  unwritten  law  which  reads  that  no  president 
should  embrace  another  creed  than  Protestant,  if  possible,  a  sect 
of  the  English  Church.  I  am  a  Roman  Catholic.  I  love  my 


198  The  Attempted  Assassination  of 

religion  but  I  hate  my  church  as  long  as  the  Roman  parish  is 
not  independent  from  Rome,  as  long  as  Catholic  priests  are  pre 
vented  from  getting  married,  as  long  as  Rome  is  still  more  en 
gaged  in  politics  and  accumulation  of  money  contrary  to  the 
teachings  of  the  Lord.  The  Roman  Catholic  Church  is  not  the 
religion  for  a  president  of  the  United  States." 

"The  Fourth  unwritten  law,  which  is  practically  supple 
mentary  to  the  second,  we  find  in  George  Washington's  Fare 
well  Address,  where  he  advises  us  to  live  in  peace  with  your 
neighbor.  We  have  no  right  to  start  a  war  of  conquest." 

In  his  examination  in  this  connection  he  stated  as  follows: 
"Four-fifths  of  the  United  States  would  take  up  arms  to  defend 
the  Third  Term  tradition.  Trying  to  get  perpetual  power  and 
dictatorship  would  justify  killing." 

He  also  said  he  would  be  justified  to  the  same  extent,  that 
is,  by  killing,  a  man  who  would  seek  the  presidency  and  was  a 
Roman  Catholic;  and  also  for  a  man  who  would  start  a  war 
for  conquest;  and  he  thought  also  of  the  possibility  of  foreign 
powers  to  help  Roosevelt  possibly  to  annex  the  Panama  Canal 
and  break  down  the  Monroe  Doctrine.  He  said  he  believed 
the  country  would  be  facing  a  civil  war  if  Roosevelt  went  on 
as  he  had  done. 

He  gives  as  a  reason  for  his  present  attack  upon  Roosevelt, 
that  he  did  not  wish  to  give  him  (Roosevelt)  an  opportunity 
to  plead  that  no  defense  of  the  Third  Term  tradition  had  been 
made  in  1912  should  he  aspire  to  another  term  in  1916.  Asked 
as  to  how  he  reconciled  his  act  with  the  commandment  "Thou 
shalt  not  kill,"  he  replied  that,  "religion  is  the  fundamental  law 
of  human  order,  but  to  kill  to  try  and  do  a  good  thing,  and  to 
avenge  McKinley's  murder,  justifies  the  killing." 

The  proof  of  his  position  came  to  him  in  his  dream  and  in 
his  vision. 

"Roosevelt's  ambition  and  conduct  proves  to  every  man  that 
he  was  back  of  McKinley's  assassination  in  some  way  or  other." 

The  defendant  says  that  he  prayed  God  to  find  a  leader 
among  men  who  would  take  this  responsibility,  and  he  expected 
all  along  someone  else  would  do  this  thing,  but  no  one  did  it, 
and  as  he  was  a  single  man  of  36,  without  a  family,  and  thought 
the  deed  was  a  good  deed,  and  it  made  no  difference  to  him,  he 
was  willing  to  sacrifice  his  life  for  that  end,  even  if  he  were  torn 


~! 


Henry  F.  Cochems. 

(Who  was  in  the  Automobile  with  Col.  Roosevelt  when  the 
Ex-President  was  Shot.) 


200  The  Attempted  Assassination  of 

to  pieces  by  the  mob.  He  therefore  concluded  that  it  was  his 
mission,  and  desired  to  make  of  this  a  test  case. 

He  thinks  the  election  returns  corroborate  the  fact  that  the 
people  have  been  awakened  to  the  idea  of  no  Third  Term. 

In  the  progress  of  the  campaign,  when  the  progressive  move 
ment  had  taken  shape,  and  Colonel  Roosevelt  had  been  nor^i- 
nated  as  the  head  of  a  third  party,  and  on  August  7th,  1912,  the 
dream  which  had  come  to  him  in  1901,  as  above  related,  began 
to  assume  more  importance,  and  special  significance  in  his  mind. 
He  felt  extreme  agitation  on  this  subject  continuously.  On  the 
morning  of  September  15th,  1912,  the  anniversary  of  the  date 
of  his  dream  in  1901,  having  retired  as  usual  the  night  before 
with  his  manuscript  by  his  bedside,  he  suddenly  awakened 
between  1  and  2  A.  M.,  with  the  completion  of  a  poem  entitled 
"Be  a  Man"  uppermost  in  his  mind. 

We  insert  the  poem  at  this  point : 

1.  Be  a  man  from  early  to  late 

When  you  rise  in  the  morning 
Till  you  go  to  bed 
Be  a  man. 

2.  Is  your  country  in  danger 

And  you  are  called  to  defend 
Where  the  battle  is  hottest 

And  death  be  the  end 
Face  it  and  be  a  man. 

3.  When  you  fail  in  business 

And  your  honor  is  at  stake 
When  you  bury  all  your  dearest 

And  your  heart  would  break 
Face  it  and  be  a  man. 

4.  But  when  night  draws  near 

And  you  hear  a  knock 
And  a  voice  should  whisper  your 

Time  is  up ;  Refuse  to  answer 
As  long  as  you  can 

Then  face  it  and  be  a  man. 

He  found  his  ideas  were  taking  shape,  and  getting  up  he  sat 
writing,  when  he  suddenly  became  aware  of  a  voice  speaking 


Ex-President  Theodore  Roosevelt          201 

in  a  low  and  sad  tone,  "Let  no  murderer  occupy  the  presidential 
chair  for  a  third  term.  Avenge  my  death!"  He  felt  a  light 
touch  upon  his  left  shoulder,  and  turning,  saw  the  face  of 
former  President  McKinley.  It  bore  a  ghostlike  aspect.  This 
experience  had  a  decisive  effect  in  fixing  in  his  mind  the  iniquity 
of  the  third  term,  and  from  this  time  he  questioned  as  to  his 
duty  in  the  matter,  and  he  finally  regarded  this  vision  and  its 
connection  with  the  exact  anniversary  of  the  dream  as  a  com 
mand  to  kill  Roosevelt,  and  as  an  inspiration.  When  asked 
by  us  whether  he  considered  this  as  imagination  or  as  inspiration 
and  a  command  from  God,  while  showing  some  reluctance  to 
claim  the  vision  as  an  inspiration,  he  finally  answered  decisively 
that  he  did. 

When  asked  whether  a  man  had  a  right  to  take  a  weapon 
and  hunt  down  a  man  who  had  violated  tradition,  he  submitted 
his  written  statement  in  reply,  which  is  hereto  annexed  as  Ex 
hibit  2,  some  quotations  from  which  are  as  follows : 

"I  should  say  where  self-sacrifice  begins  the  powrer  of  law 
comes  to  an  end,  and  if  I  knew  that  my  death  during  my  act 
would  have  this  tradition  more  sacred  I  would  be  sorry  that  my 
life  was  spared  so  convinced  am  I  of  my  right  to  act  as  I  did 
that  if  I  were  ever  a  free  man  again  I  would  at  once  create  an 
Order  of  Tradition." 

"I  presume  you  men  would  declare  Joan  d'Arc,  the  Maid 
of  Orleans  insane  because  the  Holy  Virgin  appeared  to  her  in 
a  vision." 

"When  we  read  that  God  had  appeared  to  Moses  in  the 
shape  of  a  burning  thorn  bush,  then  again  as  a  cloud,  we  will 
find  many  people  who  doubt  the  appearance  of  God  to  man  in 
human  or  other  shape." 

"Why  then  in  cases  of  dire  national  needs  should  not  the 
God  appear  to  one  of  us  in  vision." 

The  defendant  states  that  at  no  time  and  under  no  circum 
stances  did  he  communicate  to  anyone  his  intention.  In  fact,  he 
kept  it  as  an  inviolable  secret  and  took  measures  to  throw  off 
the  scent  persons  who  might  inquire  about  his  leaving  New 
York.  The  defendant  stated  in  this  connection  that  he  did  not 
wish  to  commit  the  act  in  New  York,  as  it  would  then  be 
claimed  that  he  had  been  "hired  by  Wall  Street"  and  in  that 
way  the  real  purpose  of  the  act  would  be  obscured. 


CHAPTER  XVII. 
SCHRANK  DESCRIBES  SHOOTING. 

(BEFORE  SANITY  COMMISSION.) 

On  September  21,  1912,  he  left  New  York  City,  having  first 
borrowed  $350,  and  purchased  a  38-caliber  revolver,  for  which 
he  paid  $14.  His  efforts  from  this  time  were  continuous  to 
come  within  shooting  distance  of  Colonel  Roosevelt.  He 
missed  him  at  Chattanooga  and  at  Atlanta,  and  then  went  to 
Evansville,  where  he  remained  seven  days  awaiting  Colonel 
Roosevelt's  return  to  the  West.  He  then  sought  to  come  within 
range  of  Colonel  Roosevelt  in  Chicago,  and  states  that  he  waited 
for  him  at  the  exit  of  the  building,  where  he  spoke,  but  found 
afterwards  that  he  had  left  by  a  different  exit.  He  then  pre 
ceded  him  to  Milwaukee,  arriving  here  at  1  o'clock  P.  M.  the 
day  preceding  the  attack. 

On  the  evening  of  the  shooting  Schrank  arrived  at  the 
hotel,  where  he  had  learned  Colonel  Roosevelt  would  stay,  in 
advance  of  the  time  he  was  expected  to  start  for  the  place  of 
meeting.  When  a  crowd  began  to  collect  around  the  automo 
bile  awaiting  Colonel  Roosevelt  at  the  curb,  he  went  into  the 
street,  standing  near  the  automobile  in  a  line  just  behind  the 
front  seat  on  the  left  hand  side  opposite  the  chauffeur's  seat. 
He  says, 

"Seeing  him  enter  the  automobile  and  just  about  to  seat 

himself,  I  fired.     I  did  not  pick  any  particular  spot  on  his  body. 

\     The  crowd  was  all  around  me  and  in  front  of  me.     The  next 

minute  I  was  knocked  down,  but  was  not  rendered  insensible, 

and  the  gun  was  knocked  out  of  my  hands." 

The  defendant  insists  that  he  said  nothing  during  his  as 
sault.  He  was  then  dragged  to  the  sidewalk,  and  getting  on 
his  feet  was  hurried  into  the  hotel,  and  the  doors  were  locked. 
Here  he  said  nothing,  and  was  taken  by  the  police  through  the 
back  door  to  police  headquarters. 

From  the  examination  at  police  headquarters,  made  at  9  :25 
P.  M.,  October  14,  1912,  by  the  Chief  of  Police,  John  T.  Jans- 
sen,  we  find  that  he  objected  to  telling  his  name,  but  did  so 
when  it  was  insisted  upon.  We  also  find  that  his  statements 


Ex-President  Theodore  Roosevelt          203 

made  to  the  police  concerning  his  following  and  attempting  to 
gain  access  to  Colonel  Roosevelt,  and  his  visits  to  various  local 
ities  correspond,  and  his  explanations  of  his  acts  agree  with 
those  made  to  us. 

Some  of  his  statements  to  the  Chief  of  Police,  are  as  follows, 
as  extracted  from  document  submitted  herewith,  marked  Ex 
hibit  3. 

"Q.    Why  did  you  want  to  meet  him? 

A.  Because  I  wranted  to  put  him  out  of  the  wray.  A  man 
that  wants  a  third  term  has  no  right  to  live. 

Q.    That  is,  you  wanted  to  kill  him? 

A.    I  did. 

Q.    Have  you  any  other  reason  in  wanting  to  kill  him? 

A.    I  have. 

Q.    What  is  that? 

A.  I  had  a  dream  several  years  ago  that  Mr.  McKinley  ap 
peared  to  me  and  he  told  me  that  Mr.  Roosevelt  is  practically 
his  real  murderer,  and  not  this  here  Czolgosz." 

*  *  * 

"Q.    Did  you  know  Johann  Most  when  he  was  alive? 

A.    No,  sir. 

Q.    Did  you  ever  hear  him  talk? 

A.    No,  sir. 

Q.    Did  you  ever  hear  Emma  Goldman  ? 

A.  No,  sir;  I  am  not  an  anarchist  or  socialist  or  democrat 
or  republican;  I  just  took  up  the  thing  the  way  I  thought  it  was 
best  to  do." 

(It  seems  worth  while  to  note  that  the  defendant  differs  from 
many  assassins  of  rulers  or  prospective  rulers  in  having  no 
anarchistic  ideas  or  connections,  but  rather  that  he  intended  to 
be  an  upholder  of  established  government.) 

#  *  * 

"Mr.  Grant  was  refused"  (a  third  term)  "and  he  was 
satisfied ;  this  man  wras  refused  and  he  is  not  satisfied ;  it's  gone 
beyond  limits;  if  he  keeps  on  doing  this  after  election,  he  can't 
possibly  carry  a  solid  Western  state;  the  next  thing  we  will 
have  a  civil  war,  because  he  will  say  the  scoundrels  and  thieves 
and  crooks  stole  my  nomination,  and  now  they  will  steal  my 


204  The  Attempted  Assassination  of 

election,  and  they  will  take  up  arms  in  all  the  Western  states; 
we  are  facing  a  civil  war  just  to  keep  him  in  a  third  term." 

Q.    Where  did  you  get  all  this  idea  from? 

A.    I  have  been  reading  history  all  the  time. 

*  *  * 
Q.    What  schooling  did  you  have? 

A.  Well,  I  have  attended  school  in  the  old  country,  and  I 
attended  night  school  in  New  York  for  about  four  winters; 
that's  all  the  schooling  I  had. 

Q.    You  haven't  a  very  good  education  then  ? 

A.    Indeed  I  ain't. 

Q.    Have  you  always  enjoyed  good  health? 

A.    Yes,  sir;  I  am  a  healthy  sane  man,  never  been  sick. 

Q.  Well,  do  you  believe  that  that  is  a  sane  act  that  you 
committed  this  evening? 

A.  I  believe  that  is  my  duty  as  a  citizen  to  do,  it's  the  duty 
of  every  citizen  to  do  so. 

Q.  Well,  how  did  you  happen  to  get  the  idea  that  it  was 
your  duty  among  all  the  people  that  live  in  the  United  States? 

A.  I  don't  know,  I  thought  maybe  somebody  else  might  do 
it  before  I  got  there. 

Q.  And  you  spoke  to  no  one  about  your  intention  on  all  the 
route  you  took  concerning  this,  nobody? 

A.    No,  sir;  nobody." 

While  in  jail  the  prisoner  prepared  a  written  defense,  which 
we  submit  herewith  as  Exhibit  4,  and  we  extract  certain  sen 
tences  from  the  same,  as  follows : 

"Gentlemen  of  the  Jury,  I  appeal  to  you  as  men  of  honor, 
I  greet  you  Americans  and  countrymen  and  fathers  of  sons  and 
daughters.  I  wish  to  apologize  to  the  community  of  Milwau 
kee  for  having  caused  on  October  14th  last,  great  excitement, 
bitter  feeling,  and  expenses." 

*  •  • 

"Gentlemen  of  the  Jury:  When  on  September  14th  last 
I  had  a  vision,  I  looked  into  the  dying  eyes  of  the  late  President 
McKinley,  when  a  voice  called  me  to  avenge  his  death,  I  was 
convinced  that  my  life  was  coming  soon  to  an  end,  and  I  was  at 


Ex-President  Theodore  Roosevelt          205 

once  happy  to  know  that  my  real  mission  on  this  earth  was  to 
die  for  my  country  and  the  cause  of  Republicanism." 

*  *  * 

"You  see  that  I  have  appeared  here  today  without  assistance 
of  a  counsellor  at  law,  without  any  assistance  save  that  of  God, 
the  Almighty,  who  is  ever  with  him  who  is  deserted,  because  I 
am  not  here  to  defend  myself  nor  my  actions." 

*  *  # 

"The  law  I  have  violated  for  which  you  will  punish  me  is 
not  in  any  statute  book." 

*  *  * 

"The  shot  at  Milwaukee  which  created  an  echo  in  all  parts 
of  the  world  was  not  a  shot  fired  at  the  citizen  Roosevelt,  not  a 
shot  at  an  ex-president,  not  a  shot  at  the  candidate  of  a  so-called 
prog.  pty.  (Progressive  party),  not  a  shot  to  influence  the  pend 
ing  election,  not  a  shot  to  gain  for  me  notoriety;  no,  it  was 
simply  to  once  and  forever  establish  the  fact  that  any  man  who 
hereafter  aspires  to  a  third  presidential  term  will  do  so  at  the 
risk  of  his  life." 

"If  I  do  not  defend  tradition  I  cannot  defend  the  country 
in  case  of  war.  You  may  as  well  send  every  patriot  to  prison." 

(As  showing  the  erratic  reasoning  of  the  defendant,  the  fol 
lowing  passage,  intimating  that  the  assassination  of  President 
McKinley  was  a  part  of  a  conspiracy  to  elevate  Colonel  Roose 
velt  to  a  permanent  control  of  the  destinies  of  the  United 
States,  we  quote  further:) 

"Political  murders  have  occurred  quite  often,  committed  by 
some  power  that  works  in  the  dark  and  only  too  frequently  of 
late  the  assassin  was  classed  as  an  anarchist,  but  the  real  in 
stigators  could  never  be  brought  to  justice.  Whoever  the  direct 
murderer  of  President  McKinley  has  been  it  could  never  be 
proven  that  he  has  ever  been  affiliated  with  any  anarchistic  or 
similar  society,  but  we  may  well  conclude  that  the  man  who  in 
years  after  willingly  violated  the  third  unwritten  law  of  the 
country  whenever  he  thought  it  profitable  to  change  his  creed 
while  president,  perhaps  to  the  mother  of  monarchies." 

(From  the  remarks  of  the  prisoner  in  our  examination  of 
him,  we  find  by  "the  mother  of  monarchies"  that  he  refers  to  the 
Roman  Catholic  Church.) 


206  The  Attempted  Assassination  of 

We  further  quote : 

"Such  was  his  fear  that  his  machine,  built  up  in  ll/2  years 
will  be  destroyed  over  night,  that  he  threatened  not  to  leave  the 
chair  unless  he  were  allowed  to  nominate  his  successor." 

"Gentlemen  of  the  jury:  The  3t  (third  termer)  'never 
again  will  I  run  for  pres.'  (president)  has  a  parallel  in  the  his 
tory  of  Rome.  Whoever  read  the  history  of  Julius  Caesar  knows 
that  this  smart  politician  wThile  elected  dictator  managed  to  be 
come  so  popular  with  the  people  that  they  offered  him  the  kingly 
crown,  but  J.  Caesar  knew  that  he  had  to  bide  his  time,  that 
the  rest  of  Senators  know  of  his  ambition,  and  after  refusing 
three  times  he  knew  they  would  offer  it  to  him  a  fourth  time, 
and  when  then  he  accepted  it  he  was  murdered  for  ambition's 
sake." 

"He"  (Colonel  Roosevelt)  "was  ambitiously  waiting  for  the 
Government  at  Washington  to  start  a  military  intervention  in 
Mexico,  but  the  leaders  of  the  Republican  party  feared  that  the 
3t  (third  termer)  would  muster  an  army  of  volunteer  Rough 
Riders  and  return  at  election  as  the  conquering  hero." 

"The  danger  even  more  grave  than  civil  war  is  the  possi 
bility  of  intervention  of  foreign  powers,  who  may  help  the  3t 
(third  termer)  in  order  to  keep  the  Union  disunited  and  sep 
arated."  ****** 

"We  would  at  once  realize  that  we  are  surrounded  by  a 
pack  of  hungry  wolves  ready  to  destroy  this  hated  Republic, 
ready  to  destroy  Monroe  Doctrine,  ready  to  annex  the  Panama 
Canal  and  the  great  land  of  the  brave  and  free,  the  home  many 
millions  free  people,  the  dream  of  all  heroes  and  martyrs  for 
political  freedom  to  1848  would  have  ceased  to  be  owing  to  the 
ambitions  of  one  man,  and  one  man's  rule.  I  hope  that  the  shot 
at  Milwaukee  has  awakened  the  patriotism  of  the  American 
nation." 

"I  have  been  accused  of  having  selected  a  state  where  capital 
punishment  is  abolished.  I  would  say  that  I  did  not  know  the 
laws  of  any  state  I  travelled  through.  It  would  be  ridiculous 
to  fear  death  after  the  act  as  I  expected  to  die  during  the  act, 
and  not  live  to  tell  the  story,  and  if  I  knew  that  my  death  would 
have  made  the  third  term  tradition  more  sacred,  I  am  sorry  I 
could  not  die  for  my  country." 


Ex-President  Theodore  Roosevelt         207 

"Now,  Honorable  Men  of  the  Jury,  I  wish  to  say  no  more, 
in  the  name  of  God  go  and  do  your  duty,  and  only  countries 
who  ask  admission  by  popular  vote  and  accept  the  popular  vote 
never  wage  a  war  of  conquest  murder  for  to  steal  abolishes 
opportunity  for  ambitious  adv.  (adventurers). 

"All  political  adventurers  and  military  leaders  have  adopted 
the  career  of  conquering  heroes  wholesale  murder,  wholesale 
robbers  called  national  aggrandizement.  Prison  for  me  is  like 
martyrdom  to  me,  like  going  to  war.  Before  me  is  the  spirit  of 
George  Washington,  behind  me,  that  of  McKinley." 

(The  last  sentence  the  prisoner  explained,  was  written 
hastily,  and  he  expected  to  revise  it. ) 


CHAPTER  XVIII. 
CONCLUSION  OF  COMMISSION. 

From  the  testimony  of  the  jailor  who  had  been  in  charge 
from  the  date  of  Schrank's  arrest  to  the  present  date,  we  learn 
that  he  was  a  quiet,  pleasant  man,  well-behaved  in  all  respects, 
and  fastidious  as  to  dress  and  food,  uniformly  cheerful  and 
happy.  It  was  noticeable  that  he  showed  much  less  concern  or 
anxiety  as  to  his  fate  than  the  average  prisoner.  This  is  also 
corroborated  by  the  examination  of  a  detective  concerned  in 
his  arrest. 

The  impression  we  have  derived  from  the  demeanor  of  the 
prisoner  in  our  several  examinations  is  that  he  is  truthful  in  his 
statements  and  shows  no  desire  to  conceal  anything.  He  un 
doubtedly  has  an  elevated  idea  of  his  importance,  but  is  free 
from  bombast.  In  the  course  of  his  examination  when  the  ques 
tion  of  his  views  or  opinions  about  himself  came  up  he  drew  from 
his  pocket  the  document  herewith  submitted  as  Exhibit  4,  which 
he  says  he  prepared  as  a  defense,  saying:  "Perhaps  I  can  help 
you,  Gentlemen."  He  has  shown  every  disposition  to  assist  us 
in  arriving  at  facts.  He  shows  a  knowledge  and  command  of 
the  English  language  unusual  in  a  foreigner  who  has  only  had 
very  limited  schooling.  He  is  self-confident,  profoundly  self- 
satisfied;  is  dignified,  fearless,  courteous  and  kindly.  He  shows 
a  sense  of  humor  and  is  cheerful  and  calm  under  circumstances 
that  severely  test  those  qualities.  Beneath  all  of  this  is  an  air 
which  is  illustrated  by  his  concluding  sentence,  that  the  spirit  of 
George  Washington  is  before  him,  that  of  McKinley  behind 
him.  He  gives  the  impression  that  he  feels  himself  to  be  an 
instrument  in  the  hands  of  God,  and  that  he  is  one  of  the  band 
of  historic  heroes  paralleled  by  such  characters  as  Joan  d'Arc 
and  other  saviours  of  nations.  He  undoubtedly  considers  him 
self  a  man  of  heroic  mold.  At  no  time  did  he  express  or  exhibit 
remorse  for  his  act. 

SUMMARY. 

We  have  limited  the  scope  of  our  investigations  to  the  ques 
tions  that  we  have  been  asked  to  determine  and  summarize 


Ex-President  Theodore  Roosevelt          209 

briefly:  John  Schrank,  age  36  years,  single,  barkeeper  and 
saloon  keeper,  and  of  limited  educational  opportunities,  with 
insane  heredity  (see  Exhibit  5),  was  born  in  Bavaria,  on  March 
5,  1876,  and  came  to  this  country  twelve  years  later.  Appa 
rently  he  developed  normally,  but  early  in  life  showed  a  par 
ticular  fondness  for  the  study  of  the  histories  of  this  and  other 
countries,  and  also  for  the  composition  of  poetry.  In  the  course 
of  his  studies  of  history,  and  especially  of  the  Constitution  of 
the  United  States,  and  of  Washington's  Farewell  Address,  he 
developed  the  belief  that  this  Republic  is  based  upon  the  founda 
tion  of  four  unwritten  laws,  to  which  he  also  refers  as  the 
"Four  Sacred  Traditions,"  as  is  more  fully  set  forth  in  the  pre 
ceding  report. 

In  1901  he  had  a  very  vivid  dream,  wThich  at  that  time  he 
recognized  as  only  a  dream,  the  memory  of  which  has  frequently 
recurred  to  him  ever  since.  In  the  course  of  a  pre-convention 
campaign,  the  belief  that  the  four  unwritten  laws  or  the  "Four 
Sacred  Traditions"  are  in  danger  comes  to  him,  and  later,  upon 
the  nomination  of  a  presidential  candidate  by  the  Progressive 
Party,  he  begins  to  attach  particular  significance  to  the  dream  he 
had  in  1901.  He  meditates  deeply  upon  this  and,  in  the  course 
of  a  few  weeks  there  appears  to  him  a  vision  accompanied  by  a 
voice  which,  in  effect,  commands  the  killing  of  the  man  through 
whose  acts  and  machinations  he  believes  the  sacred  traditions  to 
be  endangered,  and  who,  he  also  believes  is,  through  a  conspi 
racy,  concerned  in  the  assassination  of  a  former  president.  He 
continues  to  ponder  upon  the  subjects  set  forth,  awaiting  the 
appearance  of  a  person  who  would  carry  out  the  act  suggested 
by  the  vision,  but  shortly  arrives  at  the  conclusion  that  he,  and 
not  someone  else,  is  the  chosen  instrument.  He  at  once  sets 
forth  to  accomplish  his  mission,  following  his  victim  until  he 
finally  comes  up  with  him. 

During  his  examination  as  to  his  sanity,  he  conducts  himself 
in  perfect  accord  with  his  beliefs,  and  expresses  a  regret  at  not 
having  died  at  the  hands  of  the  mob  if  such  a  result  would  have 
proven  of  benefit  to  his  chosen  country. 


CHAPTER  XIX. 
SCHRANK  DISCUSSES  VISIONS. 

(BY  JOHN   FLAMMANG  SCHRANK.) 

Has  a  man  a  right  to  take  a  weapon  and  hunt  down  a  man 
who  has  violated  tradition?  In  answer  to  this  I  would  like  to 
ask  the  gentleman  the  following  question.  How  and  by  what 
means  would  you  expect  to  withhold  from  a  man  that  right. 
You  know  that  according  to  the  old  Roman  law  the  atonement 
for  the  taking  of  a  life  has  been  the  giving  of  a  life,  and  to  this 
day  our  power  of  state  with  the  laws  and  instruments  for  pun 
ishment  is  limited  to  the  taking  of  man's  life  there  is  no  severer 
penalty  than  death  sentence.  Now  then  when  a  man  concludes 
to  take  a  weapon  and  hunt  down  another  man  and  he  then  wil 
lingly  sacrifices  his  own  life  in  defense  we  say  of  tradition,  does 
such  man  then  not  willingly  give  what  otherwise  the  law  could 
take  from  him,  is  then  not  the  right  with  him,  I  should  say  where 
self-sacrifice  begins  to  power  of  law  comes  to  an  end  and  if  I 
knew  that  my  death  during  my  act  would  have  this  tradition 
more  sacred. 

I  would  be  sorry  that  my  life  was  spared,  so  convinced  am  I 
of  my  act  to  act  as  I  did,  that  if  I  were  ever  a  free  man  again 
I  would  at  once  create  an  order  of  tradition  sole  puropse  to 
defend  it. 

You  gentlemen  claim  that  you  would  think  a  man  insane, 
that  could  have  such  things  as  a  vision  appear  to  him.  There 
might  be  exceptions,  but  I  disagree  with  you  in  making  this  the 
rule.  Then  I  presume  you  men  would  declare  Joan  d'Arc  the 
Maid  of  Orleans  insane  because  the  Holy  Virgin  appeared  her 
in  a  vision.  France  as  a  nation  passed  in  those  days  through 
a  grave  trial,  her  very  existence  as  a  nation  was  at  stake.  To 
our  shame  we  must  admit  that  while  we  prosper  and  are  far 
from  danger  we  hardly  ever  give  it  a  thought,  that  all  our  com 
fort  is  granted  to  us  by  God  the  Almighty,  and  it  is  an  old 
saying  that  when  the  danger  is  over  the  saints  are  mocked. 
But  in  days  of  hard  stress,  dire  need  and  want,  we  at  once  knew 


Ex-President  Theodore  Roosevelt          211 

that  we  are  indebted  to  a  power  above  us,  we  at  once  realize  that 
we  are  sinners,  we  feel  that  our  good  spirit  is  a  small  particle  to 
the  Holy  Spirit  God  that  we  are  helpless  children  and  related 
to  the  good  father  God.  We  then  pray  with  innermost  contri 
tion  that  God  may  forgive,  that  God  may  enlighten  one  of  us 
that  God  may  find  a  leader  among  us. 

And  such  is  the  mercy  of  God  that  for  the  repentance  of  one 
man  for  the  acknowledgement  for  one  good  deed,  God  will  for 
give  the  sins  of  a  whole  nation.  When  we  read  about  the 
destruction  of  Sodom  Gomorrha,  when  Lot  asked  the  Lord, 
wouldst  Thou  spare  these  cities  if  there  were  ten  honorable  and 
just  men  within  its  walls  and  God  answered,  if  I  could  find  one 
honorable  and  just  man  I  would  spare  that  people. 

We  may  conclude  from  these  words  that  God  had  long  be 
fore  this  forsaken  them  when  a  nation  is  confronted  with  grave 
trials  it  is  then  nearing  the  boundary  line  of  God's  patience,  no 
doubt  the  people  of  Sodom  had  arrived  there  and  God  had 
weighed  their  deeds  and  found  them  too  light  he  would  not 
enlighten  one  of  them  to  be  a  leader  and  who  wrould  impress 
upon  his  people  to  come  back  to  the  safe  avenue  of  God  and 
leave  the  road  of  destruction.  In  our  health  and  prosperity  we 
are  too  easily  over-confident  and  self-possessed  when  we  read 
that  God  had  appeared  to  Moses  in  the  shape  of  a  burning 
thorn  bush,  then  again  as  a  cloud,  we  will  find  many  people  who 
doubt  the  appearance  of  God  to  man  in  human  or  other  shape. 
When  I  see  a  tree  growing  out  of  rocks  it  appears  to  me  as  if 
God  spoke  to  me  that  he  wants  all  people  to  live  a  temperate  life 
as  it  requires  but  little  to  live  and  proper  as  is  shown  in  that 
tree.  Now  then  does  God  appear  to  us  in  our  journey  through 
this  life.  Has  he  ever  appeared  to  you.  Has  there  never  been 
a  time  when  you  would  say,  O  what  a  lucky  dog  I  was  that  I 
did  not  do  this  or  that.  Have  you  ever  refused  for  some  reason 
an  invitation  to  a  joy  ride,  a  pleasure  trip  or  others,  and  after 
you  would  find  one  or  the  other  of  your  friends  killed  while  you 
escaped.  Everyone  of  us  is  confronted  at  once  in  life  with  a 
grave  trial  which  requires  all  the  good  in  you  to  overcome 
temptation  and  find  the  right  way  out  of  it,  is  not  this  the  secret 
assistance  of  God  the  Almighty  when  you  appeal  to  Him  and  He 
weighs  your  deeds  and  either  enlightens  you  or  punishes  Science 


212  The  Attempted  Assassination  of 

discoveries.     When  then  in  cases  of  dire  national  needs  should 
not  God  appear  to  one  of  us  in  vision  the  greatest  injustice. 

(Schrank's  copy  is  followed  closely  in  all  presented  here 
from  his  pen.) 

ALIENISTS'  CONCLUSIONS. 
Our  conclusions  are  as  follows : 

First — John    Schrank    is   suffering    from    insane    delusions, 
grandiose  in  character,  and  of  the  systematized  variety. 

Second — In  our  opinion  he  is  insane  at  the  present  time. 
Third — On  account  of  the  connection  existing  between  his 
delusions  and  the  act  with  which  he  stands  charged,  we  are  of 
the  opinion  that  he  is  unable  to  confer  intelligently  with  counsel 
or  to  conduct  his  defense. 

Dated,  Milwaukee,  Wisconsin,  Nov.  22nd,  1912. 
Respectfully  submitted, 

RICHARD  DEWEY,  M.  D., 

Chairman. 

W.  F.  BECKER,  M.  D. 
D.  W.  HARRINGTON,  M.  D. 
FRANK  STUDLEY,  M.  D. 
WM.  F.  WEGGE,  M.  D. 

Commissioners. 


CHAPTER  XX. 
SCHRANK'S  DEFENSE. 

John  Flammang  Schrank  expected  to  conduct 
his  own  defense  before  a  jury,  if  tried  for  his  as 
sault  upon  ex-President  Roosevelt. 

This  is  demonstrated  by  the  fact  that  he  had 
prepared  a  defense  to  be  read  to  the  jury.  In  this 
defense  he  alluded  to  the  fact  that  he  "is  not  repre 
sented  by  counsel." 

This  defense  is  remarkable  in  that  it  shows 
clearly  the  thought  which  overcame  his  mental 
strength. 

Schrank's  defense  is  presented  as  he  wrote  it, 
with  the  exception  of  two  or  three  corrections  to 
enable  readers  to  realize  what  Schrank  is  trying  to 
say.  The  defense  was  prepared  by  Schrank  in  the 
county  jail.  He  was  writing  it  when  it  was  report 
ed  that  he  was  writing  verse.  The  defense  fol 
lows  : 

Gentlemen  of  the  jury:  I  appeal  to  you  as 
men  of  honor.  I  greet  you  Americans  and  coun 
trymen  and  fathers  of  sons  and  daughters.  I  wish 
to  apologize  to  the  community  of  Milwaukee  for 
having  caused  on  October  14  last  great  excitement, 
most  bitter  feeling  and  expenses.  I  wish  to  apolo 
gize  to  you  honorable  men  of  the  jury  that  I  am 


214  The  Attempted  Assassination  of 

causing  to  you  this  day  unpleasantness  in  asking 
you  to  pass  a  verdict  in  a  matter  which  should  have 
better  been  tried  by  a  higher  than  earthly  court. 

Gentlemen  of  the  jury,  when  on  September  14 
last  during  a  vision  I  looked  into  the  dying  eyes  of 
the  late  President  McKinley,  when  a  voice  called 
me  to  avenge  his  death,  I  was  convinced  that  my 
life  was  coming  soon  to  an  end,  and  I  was  at  once 
happy  to  know  that  my  real  mission  on  this  earth 
was  to  die  for  my  country  and  the  cause  of  Repub 
licanism. 

Gentlemen  of  the  jury,  you  see  that  I  have  ap 
peared  here  today  without  the  assistance  of  a  coun 
sellor  at  law,  without  any  assistance  save  that  of 
God  the  Almighty,  who  is  ever  with  him  who  is 
deserted,  because  I  am  not  here  to  defend  myself 
nor  my  actions.  I  am  here  today  to  defend  the 
spirit  of  forefathers  with  words  what  I  have  de 
fended  with  the  weapon  in  my  hand,  that  is  the  tra 
dition  of  the  four  unwritten  laws  of  this  country. 
Tradition  is  above  written  statute,  amended  and  in 
effective.  Tradition  is  sacred  and  inviolable,  ir 
revocable.  Tradition  makes  us  a  distinct  nation. 
Order  of  tradition.  The  law  I  have  violated  for 
which  you  will  punish  me  is  not  in  any  statute 
book.  Gentlemen  of  the  jury,  the  shot  at  Mil 
waukee,  which  created  an  echo  in  all  parts  of  the 
world,  was  not  a  shot  fired  at  the  citizen  Roosevelt, 


Ex-President  Theodore  Roosevelt         215 

not  a  shot  at  an  ex-President,  not  a  shot  at  the  candi 
date  of  a  so-called  Progressive  party,  not  a  shot 
to  influence  the  pending  election,  not  a  shot  to  gain 
for  me  notoriety.  No,  it  was  simply  to  once  and 
forever  establish  the  fact  that  any  man  who  here 
after  aspires  to  a  third  presidential  term,  will  do 
so  at  the  risk  of  his  life.  If  I  cannot  defend 
tradition  I  cannot  defend  the  country  in  case 
of  war.  You  may  as  well  send  every  patriot  to 
prison.  It  was  to  establish  a  precedent  for  the 
third  term  tradition,  which  for  the  first  time  in 
the  history  of  the  United  States  one  man  dared  to 
challenge  and  to  violate. 

Gentlemen  of  the  jury,  the  third  term  tradition 
is  the  most  sacred,  because  it  has  been  established 
by  the  greatest  champion  of  liberty  in  all  ages  past 
and  to  come  by  our  first  President,  George  Wash 
ington,  when  he  modestly  declined  a  third  term 
nomination  by  saying  that  two  terms  are  enough 
for  the  best  of  Presidents.  The  two  great  Ameri 
can  political  parties  have  since  guarded  this  tradi 
tion  most  jealously,  have  regarded  it  as  a  safe 
guard  against  the  ambitions  of  probable  adventur 
ers.  The  great  Republican  party,  the  party  of  an 
Abe  Lincoln,  the  party  of  the  new  U.  S.,  that  party 
as  a  medium  between  government  and  the  people, 
the  party  to  which  we  are  greatly  indebted  for  our 
achievements  and  our  greatness  among  the  family 
of  nations,  it  was  that  party  that  was  destined  to 


216  The  Attempted  Assassination  of 

give  birth  to  and  to  nurse  the  first  offender  of  that 
tradition,  who  gradually  proved  to  be  the  evil 
spirit  of  the  country,  and  that  great  party  which 
was  born  during  a  national  crisis  and  which  had 
bravely  faced  and  overcome  many  a  grave  trial, 
nobly  faced  the  coming  storm  and  survived  it  with 
its  honor  unimpaired. 

Gentlemen  of  the  jury,  when  we  inquire  into 
the  past  of  that  man,  we  will  find  that  his  ambi 
tious  plans  have  all  been  filed  and  laid  down  long 
before  he  has  been  President.  All  doubt  that 
these  plans  were  towards  establishing  at  the  least  a 
perpetual  presidency  in  these  United  States  have 
been  removed  during  last  summer,  when  a  certain 
senator  unearthed  from  within  the  library  of  the 
white  house  a  written  document  deposited  there 
during  the  third  termer's  presidency.  This  docu 
ment  was  an  order  for  repairing  to  be  done  in  the 
white  house,  and  this  order  closed  with  the  fol 
lowing  words :  "These  alterations  should  be  done, 
to  last  during  my  lifetime."  When  the  third  term 
er  was  informed  of  the  finding  of  this  document, 
he  admitted  and  absorbed  the  all-important  matter 
by  simply  saying:  "Some  people  have  no  more 
brains  than  guinea  pigs." 

Gentlemen  of  the  jury,  his  rough  rider  mas 
querade  during  the  Spanish-American  war  was  his 
first  important  step  towards  his  goal,  it  gained  for 
him  the  governorship  of  the  Empire  state  and  that 


Ex-President  Theodore  Roosevelt          217 

important  office  made  him  an  influential  factor  in 
the  councils  of  the  Republican  party.  During  his 
term  as  secretary  of  the  navy  he  gained  the  popu 
larity  among  the  men  in  that  branch  of  the  mailed 
fist  of  the  country  by  increasing  the  salaries  of  those 
men,  who  might  some  day  be  of  vital  benefit  to  his 
cause.  The  Republican  leaders  of  those  days 
were  soon  aware  of  the  dangerous  ambitions  of 
this  man  and  also  knew  that  this  man  would  never 
be  safe  enough  to  fill  the  highest  office  of  the  na 
tion,  for  this  reason  these  men  thought  it  wise  to 
make  him  vice-Presidential  candidate  on  the  same 
ticket  with  McKinley,  for  it  must  not  be  new  to 
you  that  the  office  of  a  vice-President  has  always 
been  regarded  as  the  suicide  to  a  man's  political 
ambitions.  But,  gentlemen  of  the  jury,  now  came 
the  time  when  a  man's  ambitions  blindfolded  him 
to  all  reason.  The  desire  to  overcome  the  obstacle 
robbed  him  of  his  sane  judgment,  and  in  such  a  case 
the  spoiler  invites  himself,  political  murders  have 
occurred  quite  often,  committed  by  some  power 
that  works  in  the  dark  and  only  too  frequently  of 
late  the  assassin  was  classed  as  an  anarchist,  but 
the  real  instigators  could  never  be  brought  before 
justice.  Whoever  the  direct  murderer  of  McKin 
ley  has  been  it  could  never  be  proven  that  he  has 
ever  been  affiliated  with  any  anarchistic  or  similar 
society,  but  we  may  well  conclude  that  the  man 
who  in  years  after  so  willingly  violated  the  first 


218  The  Attempted  Assassination  of 

unwritten  law,  which  is  the  third  term  tradition, 
may  have  readily  promised  to  violate  the  third  un 
written  law  of  the  country  whenever  he  thought 
it  profitable  to  change  his  creed  while  president, 
perhaps  to  the  mother  of  monarchies. 

Gentlemen  of  the  jury,  a  man's  first  presidential 
term  begins  when  he  takes  the  oath  of  office  and 
constitutes  a  full  term  if  it  will  only  last  twenty- 
four  hours  after  oath  and  a  man's  third  term  is  his 
third  when  he  seeks  it  or  is  given  to  him  twenty 
years  or  more  after  his  second.  When  Roose 
velt  took  the  oath  of  office  at  McKinley's  de 
parture,  he  had  ceased  to  be  a  Republican.  He 
at  once  began  to  build  a  political  machine  of  his 
own.  It  was  then  in  fact  that  his  one  man  party 
so-called  Progressive  party  was  born,  parts  of 
which  we  find  later  in  the  insurgents,  handicapping 
Mr.  Taft  wherever  they  could.  Later  in  August 
at  the  convention  of  treason  he  took  the  material 
where  and  as  he  found  we  see  him  trying  hard  to 
bring  the  money  power  of  the  union  into  his  serv 
ice,  we  find  him  extorting  large  sums  for  his  polit 
ical  campaigns  from  the  so-called  despisable 
trusts,  since  then  we  became  accustomed  to  look 
upon  every  man  of  wealth  and  the  great  industrials 
corporations  who  have  been  and  are  today  of  in 
calculable  value  and  benefit  to  our  national  welfare, 
as  nothing  more  or  less  than  contemptible  crimin 
als,  whom  he  offended  in  the  most  profane  Ian- 


Ex-President  Theodore  Roosevelt         219 

guage  during  his  crusade  against  them,  if  they  re 
fused  to  become  a  part  of  his  machine.  At  the  de 
cline  of  his  second  term  the  remainder  of  the  Re 
publican  party,  those  who  had  not  been  absorbed 
by  "my  policies"  could  no  longer  be  in  doubt  as  to 
the  third  termer's  real  intentions,  and  for  the  first 
time  the  third  termer  realized  the  magnitude  and 
importance  of  the  third  term  tradition  and  most 
men  of  influence  in  those  used  their  power  to  scare 
him  out  of  office  at  the  same  time  comforting  him 
with  the  fairy  tale  that  if  not  succeeded  by  two 
consecutive  terms  another  term  would  not  be  a 
third  term  but  such  was  his  fear  that  his  machine 
built  up  in  seven  and  a  half  years  would  be  de 
stroyed  over  night,  that  he  threatened  not  to  leave 
the  chair  unless  he  were  allowed  to  nominate  his 
successor. 

Gentlemen  of  the  jury,  now  comes  the  time 
when  the  third  termer  committed  his  second  crime 
against  friends,  party,  nation  and  republic.  With 
his  innermost  conviction  that  his  successor  would 
be  incompetent,  incapable  and  that  he  would  com 
mit  so  many  blunders  while  in  office  that  at  the 
expiration  of  his  term  the  people  would  unani 
mously  demand  the  renomination  of  the  third 
termer,  he  thought  to  remove  that  obstacle  of  the 
third  termer  and  to  make  it  appear  that  he  was 
not  ambitious  and  that  a  renomination  would  have 
to  be  forced  upon  him,  he  solemnly  declared, 


220  The  Attempted  Assassination  of 

"Never  again  will  I  run  for  president,"  but  again 
ambition  had  blindfolded  him  and  robbed  him  of 
his  judgment  of  men  in  selecting  William  H.  Taft 
as  his  successor  although  his  most  intimate  friend 
Mr.  Taft  was  aware  of  his  oath  of  office  and  his 
duties  toward  the  nation,  there  never  was  a  whiter 
man  in  the  white  house  and  no  one  ever  more  de 
served  a  re-election  as  an  honor  for  his  services 
to  the  country  against  the  revolutionary  machine  of 
the  third  termer  in  the  house  and  senate  than  Wil 
liam  H.  Taft. 

Gentlemen  of  the  jury,  the  third  term,  "never 
again  will  I  run  for  president,"  has  a  parallel  in 
the  history  of  Rome.  Whoever  read  the  history 
of  Julius  Caesar,  knows  that  this  smart  politician, 
while  elected  dictator,  managed  to  become  so  popu 
lar  with  the  people  that  they  offered  him  the  kingly 
crown,  but  Julius  Caesar  knew  that  he  had  to  bide 
his  time,  that  the  rest  of  senators  knew  of  his  ambi 
tion,  and  after  refusing  three  times,  he  knew  they 
would  offer  it  to  him  a  fourth  time,  and  when 
then  he  accepted  it,  he  was  murdered  for  ambi 
tion  sake.  Never  again  will  I  run  for  president 
and  under  no  circumstances,  said  this  man,  and 
four  years  later  we  find  him  eagerly  seeking  re- 
nomination  at  Chicago,  to  his  friends,  who  advised 
him  to  run,  he  didn't  have  the  heart  to  tell  that  if 
he  were  not  a  man  of  word  he  could  never  be  a 
man  of  honor,  but  what  shame  lies  in  between  his 


Ex-President  Theodore  Roosevelt          221 

never  again  and  his  profane  declaration  that  the 
crooks,  thieves,  scoundrels  and  liars  had  stolen  the 
nomination  from  him,  although  he  knew  that  the 
party  could  not  give  him  what  they  had  a  third 
term  not  to  give  for  the  great  Republican  party  de 
termined  to  sooner  go  down  to  defeat  than  to 
violate  the  third  term  yet. 

Gentlemen  of  the  jury,  the  third  termer  had  li 
cense  to  create  a  new  party  and  be  the  power  behind 
the  throne  and  perhaps  lead  his  party  to  victory. 
But  having  been  deceived  by  the  selection  of  his 
successor  and  having  removed  the  mask  he  deter 
mined  to  insist  on  a  third  term.  Had  \ve  lived  in 
a  time  of  panic,  general  disorder,  strikes  with  ar 
mies  of  unemployed,  most  likely  the  third  termer 
would  have  an  easy  walkin.  He  was  anxious  wait 
ing  for  the  government  at  Washington  to  start 
military  intervention  in  Mexico,  but  the  leaders  of 
the  Republican  party  feared  that  the  third  termer 
would  muster  an  army  of  volunteer  rough  riders 
and  return  at  election  as  the  conquering  hero. 

Gentlemen  of  the  jury,  the  danger  of  the  third 
termer  was  less  in  his  probable  election  than  in  his 
sure  but  close  defeat.  The  man  who  cried  of  the 
theft  at  Chicago  would  never  submit  to  the  verdict 
on  November  5,  however  honest  it  may  be;  he 
would  again  yell  robbery,  and  if  he  carried  a  solid 
west  as  was  then  expected,  he  would  give  way  to 
his  fighting  nature  and  try  to  take  the  presidency 


222  The  Attempted  Assassination  of 

on  the  battlefield  and  so  invite  civil  war,  yet,  Ab. 
Lincoln  said  that  war  is  hell,  and  that  he  who  wil 
fully  invites  war  deserves  death.  Do  we  realize 
the  horrors  of  civil  war;  are  we  willing  to  wash 
out  the  sin  of  violating  the  third  term  with  the 
blood  of  our  sons  imagine  torn  from  home,  family 
and  parents,  from  prosperity  to  dire  want  in  order 
to  place  a  man  to  the  presidency  he  is  legitimately 
not  entitled  to?  Yet,  gentlemen  of  the  jury,  the 
United  States  may  still  be  able  to  subdue  the  rebels 
the  danger  the  more  grave  than  even  civil  war  is 
the  possibility  of  intervention  by  foreign  powers, 
who  may  help  the  third  termer  in  order  to  keep  the 
union  disunited  and  separated  for  we  must  know 
that  our  strength  is  not  in  our  army  and  navy,  mon 
ey  power,  our  strength  is  in  our  union,  we  would 
at  once  realize  that  we  are  surrounded  by  a  pack 
of  hungry  wolves  ready  to  destroy  this  hated  repub 
lic,  ready  to  destroy  Monroe  doctrine,  ready  to  an 
nex  the  Panama  canal  and  the  great  land  of  the 
brave  and  free,  the  home  many  millions  free  peo 
ple,  the  dream  of  all  heroes  and  martyrs  for  polit 
ical  freedom  to  1848  would  have  ceased  to  be  ow 
ing  to  the  ambitions  of  one  man  and  one  man's 
rule. 

I  hope  that  the  shot  at  Milwaukee  has  awaken 
ed  the  patriotism  of  the  American  nation,  that  it 
has  opened  their  eyes  to  the  real  danger  and  shown 
them  the  only  safe  way  out  of  it  as  is  proven  by 


Ex-President  Theodore  Roosevelt         223 

election  returns  in  the  great  Democratic  party  the 
north,  south,  east  and  west  is  once  more  and  more 
solidly  united  and  proudly  can  we  prove  to  the 
nations  of  the  world  that  the  spirit  of  1776  is  still 
alive  and  shall  never  die,  and  that  self-government 
is  an  established  fact  and  a  success. 

I  have  been  accused  of  having  selected  a  state 
where  capital  punishment  is  abolished.  I  would 
say  that  I  did  not  know  the  laws  of  any  state  I 
traveled  through,  it  would  be  ridiculous  for  me  to 
fear  death  after  the  act,  as  I  expected  to  die  dur 
ing  the  act  and  not  live  to  tell  the  story  and  if  I 
knew  that  my  death  would  have  made  the  third 
term  tradition  more  sacred,  I  am  sorry  I  could 
not  die  for  my  country. 

Now,  honorable  men  of  the  jury,  I  wish  to  say 
no  more,  in  the  name  of  God,  go  and  do  your  duty, 
and  only  countries  who  ask  admission  by  popular 
vote  and  accept  the  popular  vote  never  wage  a  war 
of  conquest,  murder  for  to  steal  abolishes  oppor 
tunity  for  ambitious  adventurers,  for  all  political 
adventurers  and  military  leaders  have  adopted  the 
career  of  conquering  heroes,  wholesale  murder, 
wholesale  robbers  called  national  aggrandizement. 
Prison  for  me  is  like  martyrdom  to  me,  like  going 
to  war. 

Before  me  is  the  spirit  of  George  Washington, 
behind  me  that  of  McKinley. 


CHAPTER  XXI. 
SCHRANK'S  UNWRITTEN  LAWS. 

The  following  are  John  Flammang  Schrank's 
four  unwritten  laws,  "The  Pillars  of  the  Repub 
lic,"  he  calls  them.  They  are  presented  exactly  as 
written  by  Schrank,  and  as  incorporated  in  the  re 
port  of  the  alienists. 

BY  JOHN  FLAMMANG  SCHRANK. 

When  in  the  course  of  human  events,  it  becomes 
necessary  for  one  people  to  dissolve  the  political 
bonds  which  have  hitherto  connected  them  with 
another,  due  respect  to  mankind  requires  that  we 
should  declare  the  cause  of  such  action.  In  these 
modest  lines  our  forefathers  have  at  once  laid  out 
the  roads  on  which  we  should  travel,  it  demon 
strates  their  willingness  to  consult  the  opinions  of 
others,  as  well  as  it  duly  respects  the  rights  and 
feelings  of  others.  In  these  critical  days  it  is  more 
than  necessary  to  call  the  attention  of  the  nation 
to  the  three  wonderful  documents  which  have  es 
tablished  our  people  as  an  independent  nation  and 
under  their  guidance  laid  down  in  these  documents 
we  have  become  the  most  powerful  nation  on 
earth.  The  Declaration  of  Independence;  The 
Constitution,  and  the  farewell-address  of  George 
Washington.  The  most  sacred  custom  of  all  na- 


Ex-President  Theodore  Roosevelt         225 

tions  has  ever  been  their  reverence  for  their  ances 
tors,  the  honor  they  pay  to  their  dead,  and  the  ut 
most  respect  to  the  good  deeds  who  live  after  them, 
these  customs  observed  hundreds  of  years  handed 
down  from  one  generation  to  another,  we  have 
come  to  call  the  traditions  of  a  people.  Tradition 
is  an  unwritten  law  when  it  concerns  a  whole  na 
tion,  it  is  above  the  written  statute,  I  would  doubt 
the  right  of  a  court  to  have  jurisdiction  over  a  man 
who  has  defended  tradition  of  his  country,  against 
violation.  As  we  are  not  an  original  nation  or 
race,  the  founders  of  the  republic  were  the  sons 
of  the  nation  whose  language  we  speak,  it  is  tradi 
tion  with  us  especially  that  identified  us  as  a  na 
tion.  This  nation  has  four  unwritten  laws,  the 
oldest  and  most  sacred,  because  established  by  Geo. 
Washington,  is  the  third  term  tradition,  it  has 
never  been  violated  and  is  an  affective  safe-guard 
against  unscrupulous  ambition,  but  never  before 
has  been  established  a  test  case  of  its  inviolability 
as  a  warning  to  coming  adventurers.  In  the  pres 
ent  campaign  for  the  first  time  in  American  his 
tory  we  are  confronted  by  a  man  to  whom  practi 
cally  nothing  is  sacred  and  pretends  to  stand  above 
tradition.  This  man  abused  our  constitution,  he 
wants  it  amended  until  it  is  abolished.  If  our  con 
stitution  is  too  old  and  in  the  way  of  progress  after 
we  have  grown  to  be  a  rich  nation  with  it,  then  the 
ten  commandments  so  many  thousand  years  old, 


226          The  Attempted  Assassination  of 

must  be  a  useless  piece  of  junk.  He  has  abused  our 
highest  Courts,  he  has  spoken  in  the  profanest 
language  of  our  legislators,  he  has  abused  our  best 
and  most  venerable  citizens,  calling  them  liars  and 
scoundrels,  he  has  shamefully  abused  our  president, 
thereby  undermining  the  dignity  of  the  office,  how 
can  we  expect  our  foreign  born  citizens  to  respect 
our  institutions  when  an  ex-President  circumtravels 
the  Union  telling  everybody  that  those  honorable 
men  at  Chicago  were  thieves  and  crooks.  Shall  the 
people  rule,  is  one  of  his  demagogic  phrases,  yet 
he  knows  that  in  the  very  sense  he  wants  this  catch 
word  to  be  understood  is  an  impossibility,  the  peo 
ple  and  herewith  I  mean  the  rich  as  well  as  the 
poor  never  rule  in  a  republic,  they  cannot  rule, 
they  have  no  time  to  rule,  therefore  they  elect  a 
body  of  honorable  men  to  do  the  ruling  to  the  bene 
fit  of  all,  in  other  words  they  entrust  a  body  of 
men  with  their  government,  that  is  why  Grover 
Cleveland  said  that  a  public  office  is  a  public 
trust.  And  a  political  party  is  the  medium  be 
tween  the  people  and  the  elected  government,  and 
any  party  that  should  nominate  a  man  in  violation 
of  the  third  term  tradition  does  no  longer  deserve 
to  be  a  party  entrusted  by  the  people.  This  third 
termer  could  have  been  of  more  value  to  the  coun 
try  had  he  lent  his  advice  and  honest  opinion  to  his 
party  and  our  president  who  eagerly  sought  his  ad 
vice,  for  a  man's  honest  advice  is  his  ideas  and  con- 


Ex-President  Theodore  Roosevelt         227 

victions  but  with  man's  ideas  it  is  like  digging  a  pan 
of  sand  from  a  river  from  the  gold  regions,  the 
sand  must  be  sifted  and  filtered,  there  might  be  one 
or  more  grains  of  gold  found  in  it.  A  man's  ideas 
must  pass  through  the  brains  of  other  men,  to  be 
sifted  and  filtered  and  every  grain  of  gold  found 
will  be  appreciated,  but  a  man  who  claims  that  he 
knows  it  all  better,  is  equal  to  saying  that  his  pan 
of  sand  is  all  gold.  The  third  termer  claims  that 
it  is  not  a  third  term,  if  not  followed  by  two  con 
secutive  terms,  then  a  second  term  would  not  be 
a  second,  if  given  to  man  8  years  after  his  first,  I 
wonder  what  to  call  such  term,  after  a  while  he 
will  tell  us  that  a  monarchy  in  this  country  is  not 
a  monarchy  if  the  monarch  is  a  native  born;  let 
it  be  established  now  and  forever  that  it  is  a  man's 
third  term  if  he  has  twice  been  in  office  and  if  each 
time  only  twenty-four  hours  after  taking  oath  and 
if  third  term  is  given  to  him  or  he  seeks  it  twenty 
years  after  the  second.  If  the  third  termer 
thought  that  the  republican  party  whom  he  hailed 
from  needed  chastisement  because  she  refused  to 
violate  tradition  in  his  favor,  he  had  the  right  to 
create  a  third  party,  nominate  all  officials  for  same 
and  be  the  very  soul  and  power  behind  the  throne, 
but  when  it  became  evident  that  the  whole  party 
movement  was  only  enacted  to  give  him  a  third 
term,  he  had  forfeited  his  citizenship  and  his  life. 
Anybody  who  finances  a  third  term  movement 


228  The  Attempted  Assassination  of 

should  be  expatriated  and  his  wealth  confis 
cated.  It  is  ridiculous  to  say  that  if  he  is  defeat 
ed  in  November  it  is  also  a  verdict  of  the  people 
to  uphold  the  third  term  tradition,  as  we  may  as 
well  say  it  is  the  verdict  of  the  people  to  abolish 
the  third  term  if  he  wins  in  November,  the  third 
term  tradition  has  never  been  before  the  people  as 
an  issue  to  vote  and  for  this  reason  it  should  never 
be  put  before  them.  It  is  almost  a  certainty,  that 
if  voted  upon  last  year,  the  people  would  have  de 
clared  in  favor  of  upholding  the  tradition,  while 
it  is  dead  sure  that  if  we  were  living  this  year  in 
a  panic,  a  business  depression,  with  hundreds  of 
thousands  out  of  work  instead  of  a  general  pros 
perity,  the  third  termer  would  walk  in  over  the  de 
cision  of  the  previous  year.  The  dangers  in  this 
campaign  are  these,  the  third  termer  is  sure  that 
the  nomination  has  been  stolen  and  that  the  coun 
try  and  the  job  belong  to  him,  therefore  if  he  gets 
honestly  defeated  in  November  he  will  again 
yell  that  the  crooks  of  both  parties  have  stolen  the 
election,  and  should  he  carry  a  solid  West,  he  and 
the  hungry  office  seekers  would  not  hesitate  to 
take  up  arms  to  take  by  force  what  is  denied  him  by 
the  people,  then  we  face  a  civil  war,  and  it  was  Ab. 
Lincoln  who  said  that  war  is  hell  and  that  he  who 
wilfully  invited  war  deserves  death.  We  would 
then  be  compelled  to  wash  out  the  sin  of  violating 
the  third  term  with  the  blood  of  our  sons.  Yet, 


Ex-President  Theodore  Roosevelt          229 

this  is  not  the  greatest  danger  we  are  facing.  We 
have  allowed  an  adventurer  to  circumtravel  the 
Union  with  military  escort,  with  the  torch  of  revo 
lution  in  his  hands  to  burn  down  the  very  house  we 
live  in  while  we  should  be  aware  that  we  are  sur 
rounded  by  a  pack  of  wolves  ever  ready  to  jump  on 
us.  Does  anybody  think  that  the  European  powers 
would  sit  idly  while  we  are  disunited,  would  a  cer 
tain  power  hesitate  to  help  the  third  termer  and 
make  good  the  gravest  mistake  that  power  has  made 
in  1861  by  not  keeping  this  country  disunited  and 
separated  while  we  are  just  getting  ready  to  be 
come  their  greatest  competitor  on  the  seas  after 
the  completion  of  the  Panama  Canal.  Our 
strength  is  not  in  our  Army  or  Navy  nor  in  our 
Money  power,  our  strength  is  in  our  Union.  In 
Union  alone  can  we  uphold  the  Monroe  Doctrine 
our  second  unwritten  law  so  much  hated  and  dread 
ed  by  all  the  world.  The  sister  republic's  Trans 
vaal  and  Orange  Free  State  were  not  destroyed  be 
cause  it  was  the  connecting  link  between  Egypt 
and  the  Cape,  not  because  gold  was  found,  no,  but 
because  Great  Brit,  could  not  allow  a  second 
United  States  to  establish  a  Monroe  Doctrine  on 
African  soil.  Reciprocity  would  have  profited 
both  the  Union  and  Canada  but  England  fears  a 
too  close  a  relation  between  the  two  nations  and 
Premier  Leurier's  sin  was  that  he  was  first  a  Cana 
dian,  second  an  American  and  third  a  Britisher, 


230  The  Attempted  Assassination  of 

he  had  to  be  replaced  by  a  man  who  is  in  the  first 
second,  and  third  place  a  Britisher.  The  outcome 
of  the  present  campaign  interests  the  powers  more 
than  us,  all  actions  of  Congress  or  Cabinet  are 
sooner  known  in  the  Cabinets  of  Europe  than  we 
hear  about  them.  There  is  today  a  "Cato"  in 
the  Senate  of  every  country  and  in  the  folds  of  his 
cloak  he  has  concealed  several  figs  of  unusual  size, 
everyone  of  these  figs  represent  one  of  our  great 
American  Trusts,  and  he  concluded  every  speech 
with  Carthage  must  be  destroyed.  With  our 
Union  destroyed  we  would  cry  with  the  Israelites 
in  the  desert:  Lead  us  back  to  the  meat  pots  of 
Egypt,  give  us  a  thousand  trusts  sooner  than  one 
third  termer.  If  we  think  that  we  need  a  one  man's 
rule,  whose  place  cannot  be  filled  by  another  among 
millions  intelligent  citizens,  then  it  were  about  time 
that  we  got  a  licking  from  somewhere.  What  are 
we  about  to  do,  do  we  want  the  great  building  we 
have  helped  to  build  tear  down  and  give  every 
body  a  brick,  the  people  which  is  only  the  present 
generation  cannot  do  what  they  want,  for  what 
they  have  and  what  they  are  they  are  greatly  in 
obligation  to  the  past  and  earlier  generations  who 
also  helped  to  build  up,  therefore  this  generation 
called  the  people  cannot  do  as  they  please  which 
is  so  ardently  advocated  by  the  third  termer. 
Have  we  learned  no  lesson  about  a  one  man's  rule 
experienced  in  France  with  such  disastrous  results 


Ex-President  Theodore  Roosevelt         231 

as  the  end  of  the  reign  of  Napoleon  I  and  Napole 
on  III. 

We  are  trying  to  establish  here  a  system  like  our 
ancestors  have  done  in  Europe  which  all  revolu 
tions  of  a  1,000  years  could  not  abolish,  it  would  be 
useless  to  forcibly  remove  a  third  president  be 
cause  the  system  would  then  be  established.  Are 
we  under  no  obligation  to  the  heroes  of  all  wars 
for  freedom  and  independence,  are  we  over 
throwing  our  republic  while  the  heroes  of  the 
French  revolutions  and  the  martyrs  of  1848  glad 
ly  gave  their  lives  to  establish  republican  institu 
tions.  May  God  enlighten  the  nation,  may  the 
spirit  of  1776  still  be  alive,  and  when  they  tell  us 
that  there  is  a  Rome  on  the  other  side  let  them 
understand  that  U.  S.  A.  is  not  Carthage.  In  this 
campaign  we  may  observe  that  prosperity  is  as 
dangerous  to  our  institutions  as  hard  times  are, 
people  are  too  busy  making  money,  they  gradu 
ally  loose  all  interest  in  politics,  unless  a  third 
termer  tells  them  that  government  is  only  medium 
to  enrich  them  still  more,  how  else  can  we  explain 
his  remark  that  Mr.  Perkins  wants  his  children  to 
live  better  in  this  country  after  his  departure,  a 
millioniare's  children  can  only  live  better  when  the 
third  term  party  doubles  the  millions  of  their 
father.  In  this  critical  time  I  find  that  men  have 
more  interest  in  the  baseball  results  than  to  regis 
ter,  think  and  vote.  But  of  course  some  people 


232          The  Attempted  Assassination  of 

have  no  more  sense  than  three  guinea  pigs.  His 
movement  is  not  progressive,  they  are  insurgents, 
insurgents  and  revolutionary.  Hardly  any  revo 
lution  has  started  without  pretending  that  their 
movement  was  progressive. 

The  abolition  of  the  third  term  tradition  is 
the  abolition  of  the  Monroe  Doctrine  also.  In  this 
Doctrine  we  are  overtaking  the  guardianship  over 
all  republics  on  the  American  continent  against 
Foreign  encroachments.  Naturally  the  third 
termer  would  prove  too  in  1916  that  the  fourth 
term  is  only  his  second,  to  do  this  he  would  have 
to  become  the  conquering  hero,  we  would  commit 
the  same  faults  France  did  100  years  ago  National 
aggrandisement,  yet  France  no  larger  today  than 
before  Napoleon  I.  The  fourth  termer  could 
hardly  gather  laurels  in  a  European  or  Asiatic  war 
the  natural  consequences  would  that  South  Ameri 
ca  would  become  the  field  of  his  actions.  We  have 
upheld  the  Monroe  Doctrine  without  the  consent 
of  these  countries  so  she  could  prevent  those  na 
tions  from  inviting  a  European  power  to  protect 
them  by  declaring  that  inasmuch  as  the  third  term 
tradition  is  abolished,  the  Monroe  Doctrine  is  no 
longer  binding,  because  they  are  more  afraid  of 
the  third  termer  than  they  would  be  of  any  foreign 
prince.  The  prudence  of  our  forefathers  has  de 
livered  to  us  an  equally  sacred  unwritten  law 
which  reads  that  no  president  should  embrace 


Ex-President  Theodore  Roosevelt          233 

another  Creed  than  Protestant  if  possible  a  sect 
of  the  English  church.  I  am  a  Roman  Catholic. 
I  love  my  religion  but  I  hate  my  church,  as  long 
as  the  Roman  parish  is  not  independent  from 
Rome,  as  long  as  Catholic  priests  are  prevented 
from  getting  married,  as  long  as  Rome  is  still 
more  engaged  in  politics  and  accumulation  of 
money  contrary  to  the  teachings  of  the  Lord,  the 
Roman  Catholic  church  is  not  the  religion  for  a 
president  of  the  United  States.  The  separation  of 
state  from  church  in  France  has  sufficiently  proved 
that  Rome  and  republic  are  enemies. 

The  fourth  unwritten  law  which  is  practically 
supplementary  to  the  second  we  find  in  George 
Washington's  farewell  address  where  he  advises 
us  to  live  in  peace  with  your  neighbor.  We  have 
no  right  to  start  a  war  of  conquest  with  any  nation 
and  our  relations  to  the  South  American  republic 
can  be  improved  if  we  remove  their  fear  of  a  steady 
conquest  by  us  by  observing  this  law.  Does  it  not 
look  ridiculous  that  established  governments  in 
this  enlightened  age  sends  thousands  of  unfortun 
ates  to  prison  as  punishment  for  murdering,  for  to 
steal  and  rob,  while  these  same  nations  are  armed 
with  all  descriptable  weapons  like  so  many  bandits 
ever  ready  to  jump  at  each  other's  throat.  What  else 
is  war  but  murder  for  to  rob  that  which  belongs  to 
others.  Since  men  have  learned  to  work  they  have 
no  more  right  to  war.  The  salvation  of  the  human 


234  The  Attempted  Assassination  of 

family  must  be  worked  out  by  international  Com 
mercialism  the  sooner  all  industrial  establishments 
of  the  world  unite  like  in  the  days  of  the  Hansa  can 
the  social  questions  be  solved.  International  Com 
mercialism  must  have  individual  legislation  and 
jurisdiction,  independent  from  national  legisla 
tion,  but  must  be  acknowledged  by  all  states  and 
the  United  States  is  the  only  power  ruled  by  com 
mercialism  without  a  mailed  fiat  and  will  be  the 
first  to  recognize  International  Commercialism  for 
this  alone  will  abolish  and  distribute  wealth  more 
fair  and  just,  and  work  to  a  higher  state  of  civiliza 
tion. 

JOHN  SCHRANK. 


CHAPTER  XXII. 
UNUSUAL  COURT  PRECEDENT. 

Judge  August  C.  Backus'  method  of  conduct 
ing  the  Schrank  case  has  established  a  precedent 
for  such  cases,  and  the  action  of  the  court  in  estab 
lishing  a  new  form  of  procedure  has  met  with 
favorable  comment  on  the  part  of  lawyers,  alien 
ists,  court  officials  and  editors  all  over  the  world. 

Instructing  the  commission  of  five  alienists  in 
its  duties  Judge  Backus  said. 
Gentlemen  of  the  Commission: 

"You  have  been  appointed  as  an  impartial  com 
mission  to  examine  into  the  present  mental  condi 
tion  of  the  defendant  John  Schrank,  who  is  charged 
with  the  crime  of  assault  with  intent  to  kill  and 
murder  Theodore  Roosevelt,  with  a  loaded  re 
volver,  on  the  14th  day  of  October,  1912,  in  the  city 
and  county  of  Milwaukee  and  state  of  Wisconsin. 

"The  court  in  this  proceeding  will  finally  de 
termine  the  issue.  I  have  decided  to  take  this 
method  of  procedure  instead  of  a  jury  trial,  be 
cause  as  a  rule  in  trials  by  jury  the  case  resolves 
itself  into  a  battle  of  medical  experts,  and  in  my 
experience  I  have  never  witnessed  a  case  where  the 
testimony  of  the  experts  on  one  side  was  not  directly 
contradicted  by  the  testimony  of  as  many  or  more 


James  G.  Flanders, 
Attorney  for  Schrank. 


Ex-President  Theodore  Roosevelt          237 

experts  on  the  other  side.  Where  men  especially 
trained  in  mental  and  nervous  diseases  disagree, 
how  can  it  be  expected  that  a  jury  of  twelve  lay 
men  should  agree?  Such  testimony  has  been  very 
unsatisfactory  to  the  jury  and  to  the  court,  and  gen 
erally  very  expensive  to  the  community. 

"Bear  in  mind,  gentlemen,  that  your  appoint 
ment  has  not  been  suggested  by  either  counsel  for 
the  state  or  for  the  defendant,  or  by  any  other  party 
or,  source  directly  or  indirectly  interested  in  this 
inquisition.  You  are  the  court's  commission,  and 
you  must  enter  upon  your  duties  free  from  any  bias 
or  prejudice,  if  any  there  be.  You  should  assume 
your  duties,  and  I  know  you  will,  with  the  highest 
motives  in  seeking  the  truth,  and  then  pronounce 
your  judgment  without  regard  to  the  effect  it  may 
have  upon  the  state  or  upon  the  defendant;  in  other 
words,  in  your  inquiry  and  deliberation  you  are 
placed  on  the  same  plane  as  the  judge. 

"If  any  person  seeks  to  influence  you  or  talks  to 
you  as  a  commission,  or  to  any  member  of  the  com 
mission,  who  is  not  duly  requested  to  appear  be 
fore  you,  report  him  to  the  court  so  that  an  order 
to  show  cause  why  he  should  not  be  punished  for 
contempt  may  issue. 

"If  there  be  any  witnesses  you  desire,  the  court 
will  command  their  attendance.  The  court  will 
grant  you  the  services  of  a  phonographic  reporter 


238  The  Attempted  Assassination  of 

so  that  everything  that  is  said  and  done  may  ap 
pear  of  record. 

"This  commission  may  now  retire,  select  a  mod 
erator  and  proceed  with  the  inquiry. 

"Now,  gentlemen,  perform  your  duties  fairly 
and  impartially  and  render  such  findings  to  the 
court  as  your  consciences  and  your  judgments  ap 
prove. 

"The  question  for  your  determination  is,  (Is 
the  defendant  John  Schrank  sane  or  insane  at  the 

present  time?'  " 

*         *         * 

Editorial  comment  from  three  newspapers 
is  herewith  presented  as  showing  the  general  trend 
of  comment  on  the  course  followed  by  Judge 
Backus: 

The  Milwaukee  Free  Press  said: 

"The  findings  of  the  alienists  appointed  by 
Judge  Backus  to  determine  the  mental  condition  of 
Schrank  were  foreseen.  There  has  been  little 
doubt  at  any  time  of  the  derangement  of  that  un 
fortunate  man.  This  fact,  however,  does  not  de 
tract  from  appreciation  of  the  excellent  and  novel 
course  pursued  by  Judge  Backus  in  taking  advan 
tage  of  the  statute  that  permitted  him  to  submit 
the  question  of  Schrank's  sanity  to  a  body  of  alien 
ists  appointed  by  himself  instead  of  leaving  the 


Ex-President  Theodore  Roosevelt          239 

question  to  a  jury  at  the  tender  mercy  of  alienists 
employed  alike  by  state  and  defense. 

"The  judge  justified  his  procedure  in  these 
words,  when  instructing  the  examining  physicians: 

"  'I  have  decided  to  take  this  method  of  pro 
cedure  instead  of  a  jury  trial,  because  as  a  rule  in 
trials  by  jury  the  case  resolves  itself  into  a  battle 
of  medical  experts,  and  in  my  experience  I  have 
never  witnessed  a  case  where  the  testimony  of  the 
experts  on  one  side  was  not  directly  contradicted 
by  the  testimony  of  as  many  or  more  experts  on  the 
other  side.  Where  men  specially  trained  in  mental 
and  nervous  diseases  disagree,  how  can  it  be  ex 
pected  that  a  jury  of  twelve  laymen  should  agree? 
Such  testimony  has  been  very  unsatisfactory  to  the 
jury  and  to  the  court,  and  generally  very  expensive 
to  the  community.' ' 

"Worse  than  that.  It  has  been  a  scandal  to 
the  medical  profession,  a  source  of  travesty  to  judi 
cial  procedure  and  all  too  often  a  means  of  defeat 
ing  the  ends  of  justice. 

"The  very  course  pursued  by  Judge  Backus  was 
advocated  by  President  Gregory  of  the  American 
Bar  association  not  very  long  ago,  and  the  outcome 
in  this  instance  at  least  is  such  as  to  recommend  its 
adoption  by  the  bench  wherever  the  statutes  per 
mit." 


240  The  Attempted  Assassination  of 

The  Chicago  Record-Herald  said: 

"It  is  notorious  that  'expert  testimony'  is  too  of 
ten  confused  and  confusing  testimony  which  jurors 
and  judges  feel  themselves  bound  to  disregard  in 
favor  or  mere  horse  sense.  The  state's  experts  are 
matched  or  overmatched  by  the  experts  for  the  de 
fense,  and  the  conflict  of  'scientific'  testimony  as 
sumes  in  many  cases  the  proportions  of  a  public 
scandal. 

"Hence  the  'Wisconsin  idea'  as  applied  by 
Judge  Backus  of  Milwaukee,  who  is  presiding  over 
the  trial  of  John  Schrank,  is  an  admirable  one. 
Under  a  statute  of  Wisconsin  a  judge  may  summon 
a  certain  number  of  experts  and  make  them  officers 
of  the  court.  They  testify  as  such  officers,  and  pre 
sumably  the  state  pays  them  reasonable  fees.  Under 
such  a  plan  as  this  there  is  no  temptation  to  strain 
science  in  the  interest  of  a  long  purse,  and  impartial 
opinions  is  likely  to  be  the  rule. 

"Statutes  similar  to  that  of  Wisconsin  are  need 
ed  in  all  other  states.  'Expert  testimony'  has  long 
been  a  byword  and  reproach.  Of  course,  under 
Anglo-Saxon  jurisprudence  no  defendant  can  be 
deprived  of  the  right  to  call  witnesses  of  his  own 
choosing,  and  after  all  a  medical  expert  is  only  a 
witness  who  gives  opinions  instead  of  facts.  Still, 
a  law  which  authorizes  the  court  to  call  truly  im 
partial  experts  would  not  seem  to  be  'unconsti- 


Ex-President  Theodore  Roosevelt          241 

national.'     It  is  certainly  not  unfair  or  unreason 
able  from  the  lay  point  of  view." 


The  Saturday  Night  of  Toronto,  Ont.,  said : 

"In  the  stress  attending  on  matters  of  greater 
moment  which  have  been  occupying  the  attention 
of  the  daily  press  of  late,  the  judicial  wisdom  of 
Mr.  A.  C.  Backus,  municipal  judge  of  the  city  of 
Milwaukee,  charged  with  the  task  of  trying  John 
Schrank,  the  man  who  attempted  to  slay  Col. 
Roosevelt,  has  been  overlooked. 

"Nevertheless,  he  established  a  precedent  with 
regard  to  the  trial  of  prisoners  where  insanity  is 
the  only  defense,  that  should  be  copied  not  only  by 
every  state  of  the  American  Union,  but  by  every 
province  of  Canada. 

"It  was  not  generally  known  that  the  laws  of 
the  state  of  Wisconsin  gave  a  presiding  justice  the 
plenary  powers  he  has  exercised,  but  every  good 
judge  who  has  presided  over  cases  where  alienists 
have  been  employed  to  furnish  testimony  must  have 
yearned  for  similar  authority. 

"In  the  Schrank  case  Judge  Backus  decided 
to  eliminate  all  direct  testimony  by  alienists,  and 
to  constitute  such  experts  into  an  auxiliary  court 
who  should  co-operate  with  him  in  the  final  judg 
ment  of  the  case. 


242  The  Attempted  Assassination  of 

"His  auxiliary,  consisting  of  five  physicians, 
was  directed  to  elect  a  moderator  who  would  pre 
side  over  their  deliberations  and  decide  the  issues 
of  sanity  or  insanity  in  case  of  a  deadlock. 

"It  would  be  difficult  to  say  what  objection 
could  be  taken  to  this  system  in  any  case  where 
alienists  are  subpoenaed.  It  is  even  possible  that 
by  carefully  protecting  the  rights  of  the  prisoner 
the  same  system  could  be  worked  out  in  any  case 
where  medical  testimony  beyond  the  mere  proving 
of  the  crime  is  required.  In  many  murder  cases 
physicians  have  been  heard  swearing  to  contrary 
positions  until  the  jurors,  disgusted  with  the  con 
fusion  of  the  testimony,  have  simply  thrown  up 
their  hands,  neglected  their  duty  to  consider  the 
reasonable  facts  of  the  case,  and  allowed  murder 
ers  to  go  free. 

"Judge  Backus  has  taken  a  forward  step  in  the 
administration  of  justice  on  this  continent,  and  it 
is  to  be  trusted  that  the  effects  of  it  will  be  far- 
reaching." 


14  DAY  USE 

RETURN  TO  DESK  FROM  WHICH  BORROWED 

LOAN  DEPT. 

This  book  is  due  on  the  last  date  stamped  below,  or 

on  the  date  to  which  renewed. 
Renewed  books  are  subject  to  immediate  recall. 


30Apr'62KL 


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